BS  2595.2  .G378  1914 

Garvie,  Alfred  Ernest,  1861^ 

1945.  I' 

The  joy  of  finding  ! 


THE   SHORT  COURSE   SERIES 


THE  JOY   OF   FINDING 


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EDITED   BY 

Rev.  JOHN  ADAMS,  B.D. 


THE  JOY  OF  FINDING 

Or,  GOD'S  HUMANITY  AND  MAN'S 
INHUMANITY  TO  MAN 


AN  EXPOSITION  OF  LUKE  xv.  11-32 


BY 

Rev.   ALFRED   E.    GARVIE 

M.A.(OxoN.),  D.D.(Glas.) 
PRINCIPAL  OF  NEW  COLLEGE,   LONDON 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1914 


TO 

MY    WIFE 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  What  is  the  Parable? 
Luke  xv.  1-3 

II.  What  is  God? 
Verse  11 

III.  What  is  Man? 

Verse  12 

IV.  What  is  Sin? 

Verse  13 

V.  What  is  Judgment? 
Verses  14-16 

VI.  What  is  Penitence? 
Verses  17-20 

VII.  What  is  Pardon?    . 

Verses  20-24 

VIII.  What  is  "Righteousness"? 

Verses  25-30 

IX.  What  is  Blessedness? 
Verses  31,  32 

Appendix        .  .  , 

Index 


15 
29 

43 
57 
71 
85 

lOI 

"3 

123 

137 


"Inter  omnes  Christi  parabolas  haec  sane  eximia 
est,  plena  affectum  et  pulcherrimis  picta  coloribus  ! " 

Grotius. 


L 

WHAT  IS  THE  PARABLE? 


CHAPTER  I. 
WHAT  IS  THE  PARABLE  ? 

**Then  drew  near  unto  him  all  the  publicans  and 
sinners  for  to  hear  him.  And  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes 
murmured,  saying,  This  man  receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth 
with  them.  And  he  spake  this  parable  unto  them." — 
Luke  xv.  1-3  (A.V.). 

"Now  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  were  drawing  near 
unto  him  for  to  hear  him.  And  both  the  Pharisees  and 
the  scribes  murmured,  saying,  This  man  receiveth  sinners, 
and  eateth  with  them.  And  he  spake  unto  them  this 
parable."— (R.V.) 

The  common  title  of  the  parable  The 
Prodigal  Son  is  misleading,  as  the  centre  of 
interest  in  the  parable  is  not  the  son  who  left 
home  at  all,  but  the  contrast  between  the 
attitude  of  the  father  and  the  elder  brother 
to  him  on  his  return  ;  and  this  contrast  I 
have  sought  to  express  in  the  longer  sub-title 
chosen  for  this  volume,  God^s  Humanity 
and  Man^s  Inhumanity  to  Man,  while  the 
3 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

briefer  title  indicates  the  common  thought 
of  the  three  parables  in  the  chapter.  The 
occasion  that  the  evangelist  who  alone  re- 
cords the  parable  gives  to  it  confirms  this 
view.  Jesus  is  defending  Himself  against  the 
charge  of  "  keeping  bad  company,"  and  His 
answer  is  that  His  attitude,  and  not  His 
critics',  corresponds  to  God's. 

I.  The  Companion  Parables. 

The  two  companion  parables  which  the 
evangelist  assigns  to  the  same  occasion  are 
also  a  defence  of  Jesus'  care  for  sinners  ;  but 
the  point  of  comparison  is  not  exactly  the 
same.  The  emphasis  in  each  is  on  sorrow 
in  the  loss  and  joy  in  the  recovery  of  one 
of  many  possessions,  one  sheep  out  of  a 
hundred,  and  one  coin  out  of  ten. 

The  value  of  the  individual  soul  is  empha- 
sised as  a  reason  for  the  endeavour  to  seek 
and  save  even  the  socially  outcast,  the  morally 
depraved,  and  the  reHgiously  indifferent. 
As  the  point  of  comparison  is  not  the  same, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  three  parables 
were  spoken  at  the  same  time. 

4 


what  is  the  Parable  ? 

The  evangelist's  method  of  composition 
does  not  necessitate  any  such  assumption,  as 
in  this  part  of  the  Gospel  he  is  not  following 
any  distinct  chronology,  and  is  often  grouping 
his  material  according  to  the  subjects.  If 
this  be  so,  then  it  is  evident  how  unwise  it  is 
to  treat  the  three  parables  as  they  have  been 
treated,  as  complementary  to  illustrate  the 
function  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity 
in  man's  salvation,  the  shepherd  as  the  Son, 
the  woman  as  the  Spirit,  and  the  father  in 
the  parable  as  God  the  Father.  It  is  certain 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  not  in 
the  mind  of  Jesus,  and  that  such  a  distribution 
of  functions  is  remote  from  the  realm  of 
moral  and  spiritual  reality  in  which  He 
moved.  The  parable  of  the  Lost  Sheep  is 
found  in  Matthew's  Gospel  also  (xviii.  12-13), 
and  then  in  a  still  more  appropriate  setting 
as  illustrating  the  reason  why  "  the  Son  of 
Man  is  come  to  save  that  which  was  lost  " 
(ver.  11),^  namely,  that  "  it  is  not  the  will 
of  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one 

1  This  verse  is  omitted  by  the  R.V.,  and  it  may  be 
an  insertion  here  from  Luke  xix.  10. 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

of  these  little  ones  should  perish  "  (ver.  14). 
The  companion  parable  of  the  Lost  Coin  is 
pecuHar  to  Luke  ;  but  it  need  not,  because 
mentioned  by  one  evangelist  only,  on  that 
account  be  regarded  as  unauthentic  ;  it  does 
not  bring  out  any  fresh  aspect  of  the  subject ; 
but  Jesus  for  the  sake  of  emphasis  may  have 
presented  the  same  truth  in  two  different 
forms.  The  parable  which  we  are  studying 
so  bears  the  impress  of  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  Jesus  that  we  need  have  no  hesitation 
about  its  authenticity. 

There  is  one  thought  found  in  the  three 
parables  :  their  common  refrain  is,  lost  and 
found.  It  is  of  interest  and  importance 
that  we  should  clearly  see  and  firmly  grasp 
the  truth  Jesus  would  teach.  When  we 
think  of  sin  as  loss,  we  think  of  what  it  costs 
the  sinner.  From  this  point  of  view  we 
might  regard  the  three  parables  as  teaching 
the  loss  of  sin  to  man  as  danger,  as  disuse, 
as  disappointment ;  and  each  of  these  is 
true  as  an  aspect  of  human  experience. 
But  this  is  not  the  standpoint  of  Jesus.  He 
feels  the  sorrow,  shame,  and  suffering  of  sin 
6 


What  is  the  Parable  ? 

as  our  brother  ;  but  in  His  judgment  of  sin 
He  sees  it  as  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  the 
shepherd,  not  the  sheep,  who  sorrows  and 
rejoices  ;  the  woman,  not  the  coin  ;  the 
father  assuredly  more  than  the  son.  It  is  the 
loss  of  sin  to  God  on  which  He  who  knew  the 
heart  of  God  lays  all  the  stress.  It  is  heaven's, 
and  not  earth's,  joy  and  sorrow  with  which 
He  is  concerned,  because  He  shares  it. 
Jesus  does  not  represent  God — as  Christian 
theology,  following  pagan  philosophy  for 
centuries,  insisted  on  describing  Him — as 
impassible.  What  was  a  nickname  of  heresy 
in  the  third  century  was  for  Jesus  the  truth 
about  God,  which  was  the  motive  of  the 
ministry  :  He  was  a  fatripassian  ;  ^  for  Him 
it  was  no  monstrous  heresy  to  represent  the 
infinite  and  eternal  God  as  so  loving  man  as  to 
feel  man's  sin  as  a  loss,  and  to  rejoice  in  man's 
recovery. 

^  The  Patripassians  taught  that  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit 
were  successive  modes  of  God ;  and  were  accordingly 
charged  with  teaching  that  the  Father  suffered  on  the 
Cross. 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

2.  The  Significance  of  the  Details. 

It  is  very  properly  insisted  that  the 
parables  are  not  allegories,  but  that  each  is 
a  complete  and  consistent  story  illustrative 
of  one  point.  The  point  illustrated  by  the 
parable  has  already  been  indicated  :  Christ's 
attitude  to  sinners,  and  not  the  Pharisees', 
corresponds  to  God's,  because  God  rejoices 
in  the  recovery  of  the  lost.  But  this  canon 
of  interpretation  cannot  be  applied  rigidly 
to  this  parable.  Christ's  elaboration  of  the 
narrative  shows  that  it  had  an  interest  for 
Him  in  its  details  ;  for  here  the  truth 
illustrated  and  the  tale  illustrating  are  not 
accidentally  associated  ;  there  is  an  essential 
identity.  It  is  the  story  of  a  sinner  told  to 
show  that  God  treats  sin  as  a  loving  father 
does  ;  and  so  all  the  details  are  significant, 
and  we  can  without  any  forced  ingenuity 
regard  the  parable  as  giving  us  Jesus'  view  of 
God  and  man,  sin  and  judgment,  repentance 
and  forgiveness,  the  bliss  and  the  woe  of  the 
soul.  There  is  suggested  to  us  in  this 
parable  the  content  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus ; 
8 


what  is  the  Parable  ? 

and  in  the  exposition  of  it  we  need  not  confine 
ourselves  to  what  is  expHcitly  stated,  but 
may  from  the  other  teachings  of  Jesus 
illustrate  and  complete  what  is  implicitly 
suggested.  In  so  doing  we  have,  however,  to 
be  careful  to  distinguish  in  our  own  minds 
what  is  stated  and  what  is  suggested,  and  to 
avoid  a  confusion  in  our  exposition.  On  the 
one  hand,  it  must  be  maintained  that  in 
the  study  of  any  portion  of  Scripture  we  may 
allow  ourselves  to  follow  the  lead  of  sugges- 
tion, and  need  not  confine  ourselves  to  the 
narrower  path  of  statement,  so  long  as  we 
keep  the  distinction  clearly  before  us,  and 
accept  only  such  suggestion  as  is  accordant 
with  the  statement  of  any  passage.  We 
must  not  give  as  the  exegesis  of  a  passage 
thoughts  that  in  our  minds  spring  out  of, 
because  they  are  rooted  in,  the  truth  that  is 
taught ;  but  we  must  not  refuse  to  allow 
our  minds  to  go  beyond  the  direct  teaching 
of  a  passage,  so  long  as  these  thoughts  are 
controlled  by  that  truth,  and  bring  into 
association  with  it  truths  that  are  elsewhere 
taught  in  the  Scriptures. 

9 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

3.  The  Interpretation  Through  the 
Mind  of  Jesus. 

In  dealing  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus  we 
may  supplement  one  saying  by  other  sayings 
from  His  lips,  for  we  may  be  sure  that  for 
His  mind  truth  was  a  unity,  and  in  so  doing 
we  are  only  seeking  to  recover  that  unity  for 
our  own  minds.  The  writer  ventures  to 
labour  this  point,  as  there  is  a  pedantic 
scholarship  that  disregards  the  interests  of 
living  piety  in  its  exposition  of  the  Scriptures. 
All  exposition  of  the  Scriptures  must  be 
consistent  with,  but  it  need  not  be  confined 
by,  scholarship.  We  may  bring  the  whole 
mind  of  Christ  to  bear  on  each  of  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  for  its  adequate  interpretation. 
This  does  not  mean  that  we  allow  freedom 
to  a  vagrant  fancy  or  to  a  wilful  dogmatism ; 
but  that  we  see  each  part  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  light  of  the  whole  Gospel  of 
which  it  is  the  shrine.  The  more  at  home 
we  are  in  the  New  Testament  as  a  whole, 
the  more  will  each  passage  we  study  legiti- 
mately suggest  the  truth  to  our  minds. 
10 


What  is  the  Parable  ? 

We  must,  however,  in  dealing  with  this 
parable  especially  avoid  the  common  assump- 
tion that  it  is,  or  claims  to  be,  a  complete 
statement  of  the  Gospel.  Because  there  is 
no  mention  of  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ 
Himself  in  the  parable,  it  is  sometimes  very 
arrogantly  declared  that  this  evangelical 
doctrine  lacks  the  authority  of  Christ.  It 
would  be  beyond  the  purpose  of  this  volume 
to  offer  the  abundant  evidence  there  is 
elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  for  the 
significance  and  value  of  that  doctrine  for 
Christian  faith,  or  even  to  quote  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  Himself  which  confirm  the  Apostolic 
Gospel.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  insist  that  a 
parable,  however  rich  in  suggestion,  is  not 
a  system  of  theology  ;  and  the  silence  of  a 
parable  about  a  doctrine  does  not  and  cannot 
involve  its  exclusion  from  the  Gospel.  It  is 
true  that  any  view  of  the  atoning  sacrifice 
that  represents  God  as  other  than  the  Father 
who  seeks  the  recovery  of  His  lost  son  is  in- 
consistent with  this  parable,  and  so  must  be 
rejected  as  contradicting  the  Son's  testimony. 
It  may  be  demanded  that  evangelical  doctrine 
II 


The  Joy   of  Finding 

shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  representa- 
tion of  God  given  in  this  parable  ;  but  only 
a  caricature  of  the  true  teaching  about  the 
Atoning  Sacrifice  can  be  made  to  appear  in- 
consistent. As  will  be  shown  in  the  sub- 
sequent exposition,  there  is  implicit  in  the 
Father's  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  His  son, 
and  in  His  forgiveness  of  the  penitent  that 
atoning  sacrifice,  for  to  know  sin  and  to  know 
forgiveness  is  to  know  also  the  Cross. 


13 


IL 

WHAT  IS  GOD? 


CHAPTER  11. 
WHAT  IS  GOD  ? 

**And  he  said,    A    certain   man  had  two   sons." — 
Luke  xv.  ii. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  there  is 
a  much  closer  connection  between  the  truth 
taught  and  the  tale  told  than  in  most  other 
parables  ;  and  the  use  of  the  illustration  by 
Jesus  shows  that  He  regarded  the  human 
affections,  and  the  actions  of  which  they 
are  the  motives,  as  evidences  of  what  God 
Himself  is.  When  in  the  title  we  venture  to 
assert  God's  Humanity,  we  are  not  going  at  all 
beyond  the  warrant  of  Jesus'  teaching.  The 
analogy  between  the  earthly  father's  and 
the  Heavenly  Father's  actions  assumes  the 
affinity  of  the  nature  of  God  and  man. 
The  entire  teaching  of  Jesus  about  God  is 
summed  up  in  the  name  Father ;  God  is 
15 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

what  man  at  his  best  would  be.  We  have 
then  the  confirmation  of  the  whole  revelation 
of  God  in  and  by  Christ  when  from  the  words 
of  the  parable,  "  A  certain  man  had  two 
sons,"  we  draw  two  truths  :  (i)  God  is  man- 
like ;  (2)  God  is  fatherly, 

I.  God  is  Manlike. 

(i)  Herbert  Spencer  tells  us  that  the 
ultimate  reality  is  an  inscrutable  mystery  ; 
that  religion  and  science  can  be  reconciled 
only  in  the  recognition  of  the  Unknowable. 
Matthew  Arnold  could  not  discover  more 
than  "  a  power  not  ourselves  that  makes  for 
righteousness."  Even  idealism  to-day  often 
hesitates  about  assigning  to  God  personality, 
as  personality  is  often  conceived  as  necessarily 
finite,  and  so  unpredicable  of  the  Infinite. 
And  one  of  the  commonest  charges  against 
Christian  theology  is  that  it  is  anthropo- 
morphic or  anthropopathic,  that  it  assigns 
human  form  or  human  passions  to  God. 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  Christian  faith 
is  not  anthropomorphic,  as  idolatry  is ;  we 
may  in  the  imaginative  language  of  devotion 
16 


What  is  God? 

speak  of  God  as  hearing,  seeing,  speaking  ; 
but  we  do  not  mean  that  God  has  ears,  eyes, 
or  mouth  ;  for  Jesus  has  taught  us  that 
God  is  Spirit.  Neither  is  it  anthropopathic 
in  the  sense  that  it  ascribes  to  God  any 
animal  passions,  as  pagan  mythology  did  ;  for 
He  is  Light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at 
all.  No  human  imperfection  attaches  to  God 
in  the  Christian  conception.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  we  use  the  term  passion  in 
the  sense  of  suffering,  in  which  there  is  no 
moral  defect,  the  Christian  faith  can  be  said 
to  be  anthropopathic.  It  has  already  been 
pointed  out  that  when  Christian  theology 
used  the  term  Patripassian  as  a  term  of 
reproach,  it  showed  its  departure  from  the 
standpoint  of  Jesus.  He  did,  and  we  may, 
assign  to  God  emotion  and  affection,  love 
and  the  sorrow  or  the  joy  that  love  brings 
as  it  is  disappointed  or  satisfied.  It  is  about 
the  ascription  of  feeling  to  God  that  most 
difficulty  has  been  felt.  The  existence  of 
the  Universe  demands  an  infinite  and  eternal 
will  as  its  cause  ;  the  law  and  order  and 
progress  of  that  Universe  demand  that  that 

17 


The  Joy   of  Finding 

cause  shall  be  an  intelligent  cause,  that  an 
infinite  and  eternal  Mind  shall  be  allied 
with  an  infinite  and  eternal  Will. 

There  is  more  doubt  and  dispute  as  to 
whether  that  Mind  and  Will  may  be  regarded 
also  as  beneficent  in  view  of  the  evil  that  is 
in  the  world.  Even  when,  in  spite  of  that 
evil,  beneficence  is  admitted,  and  affection 
and  emotion  are  so  far  conceded  as  conceiv- 
able in  God,  there  is  often  reluctance  in 
taking  the  next  step,  the  admission  that  the 
Infinite  and  Eternal  Mind  and  Will  is  also 
a  Heart  that  not  only  wills  good  to  His 
creatures,  but  sorrows  with  them  in  the  evil 
that  they  experience.  Jesus  in  this  parable 
and  throughout  His  teaching  boldly  takes 
that  step.  The  God  He  reveals  as  Father 
sorrows  with  man's  loss,  and  rejoices  in  man's 
recovery.  He  is  manlike  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word  man  ;  He  thinks,  wills,  feels, 
and  loves. 

(2)  As  this  is  not  a  theological  treatise 
the  philosophical  problem  of  the  ascription 
of  personality  to  God  cannot  here  be  dis- 
cussed, but  two  reasons  for  accepting  Jesus' 
18 


What  is  God  ? 

view  wliich  appeal  to  the  religious  conscious- 
ness may  be  given.  In  the  first  flace^ 
religion  for  its  reality  demands  that  God  shall 
be  conceived  personal  as  man  is  personal. 
The  mind  needs  to  hold  communion  not 
with  an  impersonal  truth,  even  if  we  could 
attach  any  meaning  to  such  a  phrase,  but 
with  another  Mind  that  thinks  the  truth. 
The  heart  calls  out,  not  for  a  spirit  of  love, 
whatever  that  abstraction  may  be,  but  for 
a  Heart  that  can  give  and  receive  love. 
The  conscience  cannot  bow  before  an  ab- 
stract law,  but  in  that  law  it  must  discern 
the  authority  of  a  perfect  moral  subject,  not 
only  inspiring  righteousness  in  men,  but 
realising  it  Himself. 

As  Eucken  has  recently  been  insisting,  in 
religion  at  its  intensest,  personality  craves, 
and  can  be  satisfied  only  with  personality. 
It  is  not  imperfect  personality  as  man  knows 
himself  to  be,  but  personality  in  which  all 
the  ideals  after  which  he  strives  are  reality ; 
personality  that  in  its  perfection  gives  the 
assurance  that  man  shall  yet  as  personal  be 
perfected.     To    ask    men    to    confess    and 

19 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

worship  the  Unknown  is  to  mock  them  ; 
and  Spencer  in  making  the  demand  showed 
that  he  did  not  know  what  reHgion  really  is. 
Even  in  the  lowest  forms  of  savage  religion — 
animism — man  has  sought  the  likeness  of 
himself  in  the  divine  ;  and  the  progress  of 
religion  lies  not  in  depersonalising  God,  but 
in  conceiving  the  ideal  of  human  personality 
more  worthily,  and  so  ascribing  the  reality 
of  it  more  worthily  to  God. 

In  the  second  flace,  if  Jesus  is  to  be 
accepted  as  a  revelation  of  God  at  all,  God 
must  be  thought  manlike.  If  God  be  im- 
personal, how  can  the  personal  reveal  Him  ; 
and  yet  the  firm  foundation  of  all  Christian 
faith  is  that  God  is  what  Christ  showed  Him 
to  be  not  only  in  the  words  of  His  lips,  but 
in  His  whole  life.  Incarnation  crowns  the 
religious  development  of  mankind,  if  God 
be  personal,  for  in  Christ  man  at  last  finds 
the  perfect  personality  that  he  sought,  and 
so  finds  God  in  Him  ;  but,  if  God  be  not 
personal,  then  man's  religious  consciousness 
has  been  deceptive  at  every  stage  ;  and  such 
a  conception  as  Incarnation  of  the  divine  is 
20 


What  is  God? 

an  illusion.     Only  if    God   be    manlike  can 
He  have  become  man  in  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  God  is  Fatherly. 

(i)  But  Jesus  is  not  content  with  assuming 
manlikeness  to  God.  He  describes  Him  as 
Father.  What  does  that  term  connote  ?  It 
does  not  mean  merely  that  God  is  Creator 
of  man,  that  man  depends  on  God  for  the 
origin  and  the  continuance  of  his  existence  ; 
for  that  can  be  affirmed  of  God  in  relation 
to  the  whole  Universe.  It  is  not  merely  an 
assertion  of  the  affinity  of  nature  between 
God  and  man,  that  God  may  be  thought 
manlike,  for  God  made  man  godlike.  All 
religion  implies  this  likeness,  and  the  fellow- 
ship which  arises  therefrom.  If  God  had  not 
made  man  mind,  heart,  v^ll,  as  He  Himself 
is,  man  had  never  known  God,  or  sought  any 
relation  v^ith  Him.  It  is  not,  however,  in 
this  wider  sense,  which  to  some  modern 
thinkers  seems  to  be  the  only  sense,  that  Jesus 
uses  the  term  Father.  It  expresses  the 
relation  of  God  to  man  as  loving  him,  seeking 
his  good,   and  especially  in  view  of   man's 

2  I 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

sinfulness,  working  for  his  salvation.  We 
must  not  take  the  term  out  of  the  context 
in  which  Jesus  here  presented  it,  and  then 
turn  it  against  the  reality  in  relation  to  which 
He  declared  it.  The  first  and  best  gift  of 
God's  Fatherhood  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
is  His  forgiveness  of  sin,  God  shows  Him- 
self Father  most  of  all  in  seeking  and  saving 
the  lost.  We  must  not  argue  that  because 
God  is  Father,  and  man  has  the  likeness,  and 
is  in  fellowship  with  God,  therefore  sin  is  of 
little  significance,  and  can  in  no  way  affect 
man's  relation  to  God.  A  Fatherhood  of 
nature  is  not  the  revelation  of  Jesus,  but  a 
Fatherhood  of  grace.  This  statement  must 
not,  however,  be  misunderstood,  as  it  has 
been  by  theologians  standing  at  the  opposite 
extreme  of  thought.  While  God's  Father- 
hood is  a  Fatherhood  of  grace,  it  is  a  uni- 
versal Fatherhood ;  for  God's  disposition 
to  all  is  love,  and  God's  purpose  for  all  is 
salvation.  We  need  not  here  concern  our- 
selves at  all  with  the  doctrine  of  election,  for 
we  are  trying  to  state  simply  the  plain  teach- 
ing of  Jesus,  and  the  clear  meaning  of  His 

22 


What  is  God? 

life.  He  claimed  to  express  the  will  of  God 
concerning  man,  and  He  ever  sought  to  save 
the  lost.  It  seems  an  absolute  distortion  of 
the  Christian  Gospel  to  teach  that  Christ's 
work  secures  God's  Fatherhood  for  those  who 
believe,  whereas  it  expresses  that  Fatherhood 
for  all  men  in  order  that  all  may  be  brought 
to  believe.  The  will  of  love  to  save  and  bless 
is  an  eternal  and  infinite  will ;  and  Christ 
reveals  what  God  is,  and  does  not  make  God 
other  than  He  is.  If  we  emphasise  the  fact 
that  God's  Fatherhood  is  essentially  His 
will  to  save  and  bless  mankind  sinners,  then 
we  can  both  affirm  that  it  is  universal,  and 
that  the  corresponding  human  relation  to 
God  of  sonship  is  realised  only  by  those  who 
in  faith  respond  to  the  grace.  It  is  only  if 
we  put  the  abstract  terms  of  logic  above  the 
concrete  realities  of  life  that  we  can  insist, 
as  I  have  heard  some  disputants  do,  either 
that  man's  sonship  is  as  universal  as  God's 
Fatherhood,  or  that  God's  Fatherhood  is 
limited  as  man's  sonship.  God  wills  to 
save  and  bless  all  men,  but  all  men  do  not 
will  to  be  so  saved  and  blessed. 

23 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

(2)  The  truth  of  God's  Fatherhood  has 
been  widely  challenged  on  the  ground  that 
the  existence  of  evil  disproves  the  reality  of 
the  love  of  God.  The  wider  considerations, 
which  in  a  philosophical  treatment  of  the 
problem  would  be  relevant,  lie  beyond  the 
present  scope  of  our  inquiry  ;  for  we  want 
to  discover  and  then  to  share  the  reasons 
why  Jesus  believed  and  taught  the  Father- 
hood. It  was  not  because  He  was  ignorant 
of,  or  indifferent  to,  human  pain  and  need  ; 
it  was  not  because  He  was  unsympathetic 
to  human  sorrow ;  it  was  not  because  He 
minimised  or  explained  away  the  reality  of 
sin.  If  we  realise  His  tenderness  and  kind- 
ness, we  must  be  convinced  that  the  problem 
of  evil,  and  especially  of  sin,  was  felt  by  Him 
as  no  thinker,  who  on  account  of  it  has 
challenged  the  truth  of  God's  love,  ever 
felt  it.  He  knew  the  whole  reality  that  to 
some  seems  to  make  faith  impossible,  and 
He  exercised  an  unwavering  and  conquering 
faith.  His  certainty  of  God's  Fatherhood 
in  face  of  the  reality  of  evil  and  sin  as  He 
knew  and  felt  it  may  inspire  our  confidence 
24 


What  is   God? 

that,  if  we  cannot  solve  the  problem,  for  Him 
at  least  it  was  not  insoluble.  It  was  because 
He  concentrated  His  attention  and  interest 
and  effort  on  the  moral  sin,  rather  than  the 
physical  evil,  as  many  thinkers  have  done, 
that  He  foresaw  the  solution  ;  for  if  sin  can 
be  conquered,  evil  can  be  removed.  To  Him 
the  problem  was  first  of  all,  and  most  of  all, 
man's  distrust  of  and  disobedience  to  God  : 
the  core  of  the  problem  of  evil  to  Him  was 
that  man  was  lost  to  God.  But  the  tragedy 
of  man's  state  assured  Him  of  a  blessed  con- 
summation. Because  man's  sin  was  God's 
loss,  man's  recovery  was  assured  by  God's 
love.  For  Jesus,  God's  Fatherhood  was  the 
constant,  victorious  will  to  save  and  bless. 
He  did  not  affirm  the  love  of  God  by  denying 
the  existence  of  evil ;  but  the  removal  of 
the  evil  was  the  realisation  of  the  love. 
Enduring  the  contradiction  of  sinners, 
sharing  the  shame,  sorrow,  and  suffering  of 
man's  sin  in  His  love  for  man.  He  not  only 
taught  God's  Fatherhood,  but  lived  it  in 
His  Sonship  of  trust,  love,  and  obedience. 
His  certainty  is  contagious,  and  the  Father- 

25 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

hood  so  real  to  Him,  He,  when  He  casts 
the  spell  of  His  grace  over  us,  makes  as  real 
to  us.  But  this  is  not  all ;  the  Fatherhood 
was  being  revealed  in  not  only  the  realisation 
of  His  Sonship  in  Himself,  but  in  the  realisa- 
tion of  His  Saviourhood  to  others.  He  was 
"  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners,"  be- 
cause the  Son  of  Man  was  indeed  seeking 
and  saving  the  lost.  The  problem  of  evil 
was  for  Him  soluble,  because  He  was  Himself 
solving  it.  It  was  in  that  hour,  when  the 
burden  of  the  problem  fell  most  heavily  upon 
His  own  heart,  that  He  maintained  His  assur- 
ance of  Saviourhood,  the  fulfilment  through 
Him  of  God's  will  of  love  towards  all  man- 
kind. Jesus'  teaching  of  God's  Fatherhood 
would  not  have  for  us  the  value  that  it  has, 
had  He  not  realised  the  evil  and  the  sin  of 
the  world  to  the  uttermost  in  His  own 
loving  heart ;  it  could  not  amid  doubt  and 
question  maintain  our  certainty,  had  He  not 
in  His  Saviourhood  shown  the  victory  of 
God's  love  over  sin  and  evil. 


26 


III. 

WHAT  IS  MAN? 


CHAPTER  III. 
WHAT  IS  MAN  ? 

**  And  the  younger  of  them  said  to  his  father,  Father, 
give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me.  And  he 
divided  unto  them  his  living." — Luke  xv.  12  (A.V.). 

"  And  the  younger  of  them  said  to  his  father.  Father, 
give  me  the  portion  of  thy  (marg.  Gr.  the)  substance 
that  falleth  to  me.  And  he  divided  unto  them  his 
living/'— (R.V.) 

The  custom  that  is  in  this  verse  alluded  to 
is  so  foreign  to  our  views  about  property 
that  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  realise  how  a  son 
could  make  such  a  request,  or  a  father  grant 
it ;  and  yet  Jesus  would  have  blunted  the 
edge  of  His  comparison  if  He  had  introduced 
details  into  the  story  that  would  have 
challenged  the  contradiction  of  His  hearers. 
But  according  to  Eastern  ideas,  the  father 
holds  the  family  property  in  trust  for  his 
children,  and  he  may  divest  himself  of  that 
29 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

property  in  their  interest  This  case  does 
offer  us  some  suggestions  regarding  the  nature 
of  man  additional  to  those  already  suggested 
by  the  discussion  of  the  nature  of  God. 
We  have  already  seen  that  as  God  is  manlike, 
so  man  is  godlike  ;  there  is  a  likeness  of  nature 
between  God  and  man.  We  have  also  seen 
that  God  is  Father  as  the  v^^ill  to  save  and 
bless  mankind,  and  so  man  may  become  the 
child  of  God  in  accepting  that  salvation 
and  blessedness.  This  verse  suggests  three 
thoughts  that  will  bring  out  more  clearly 
the  relation  of  God  and  man,  and  man's 
need  of  the  saving  love  of  God.  (i)  Man  is 
dependent  on  God  :  the  son  has  no  property 
of  his  own,  but  must  ask  that  the  father  may 
give.  (2)  Man  asserts  himself  even  in  re- 
lation to  God  :  the  son  seeks  to  be  inde- 
pendent by  gaining  control  over  his  portion. 
(3)  God  assents  to  man^s  liberty  :  the  father 
divided  unto  them  his  living.  The  analogy 
between  God's  relation  to  man  and  the 
relation  of  an  earthly  father  to  his  son  is 
close  enough  to  preserve  these  suggestions 
from  arbitrariness. 

30 


What  is  Man  ? 


I.  Man  is  Dependent  on  God. 

(i)  In  all  religion  there  is  a  sense  of  depend- 
ence on  the  divine ;  one  of  the  world's  best 
teachers,  Schleiermacher,  defined  religion  as 
the  feeling  of  defendence,  Man  finds  him- 
self in  a  world  the  laws  of  which  he  does 
not  fully  know,  and  the  forces  of  which  he 
cannot  fully  control,  and  yet  on  that  world 
he  depends  for  food  and  clothing,  shelter  and 
safety,  health  and  strength,  and  so  weal  or 
woe.  He  depends  on  powers  above  him  and 
above  the  world  to  secure  good,  and  to  avert 
evil  from  him.  Jesus  in  His  teaching  con- 
firms this  witness  of  pagan  religion  regard- 
ing man's  dependence.  He  declares  the 
impartial  beneficence  of  God's  universal 
providence,  and  requires  of  man  freedom 
from  anxiety  through  confidence  in  God 
(Matt.  vi.  25-34). 

(2)  Man's  dependence  appears  even  in  his 
distrust  of  and  disobedience  to  God.  The 
younger  son  must  get  his  portion  from  his 
father  before  he  can  use  it  according  to  his 
own  wishes.  The  mind  that  thinks  falsehood, 
31 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

the  heart  that  feels  hate,  the  will  that  chooses 
wrong,  the  whole  personality  that  is  evil,  owes 
all  to  God  except  its  abuse  of  all  His  gifts. 
It  is  true  that  that  dependence  is  often  for- 
gotten, and  men  act  as  if  they  were  their  own 
makers  and  so  masters ;  but  man's  forgetful- 
ness  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  it  is  from  God 
that  the  portion  so  abused  comes  to  them. 

2.  Man  Asserts  Himself  even  in  Re- 
lation TO  God. 

(i)  There  is  a  tendency  in  man  towards  self- 
assertion;  he  has  an  individuality  that  he  seeks 
to  realise  ;  the  impulse  to  self-preservation, 
self-protection,  self-advancement,  and  self- 
satisfaction  is  natural  and  necessary  to  man  ; 
he  feels  himself  to  be  an  end  in  himself, 
and  he  uses  the  world  and  his  fellow-men  as 
means  towards  that  end.  Within  its  proper 
limits  this  movement  in  man  towards  indi- 
vidual independence  is  salutary.  Self-de- 
velopment is  a  necessary  characteristic  of 
personality  ;  man  makes  himself  and  is  not 
merely  made.  Foolish  parents  sometimes 
speak  about  breaking  the  will  of  their 
32 


What  is  Man  ? 

children,  and,  if  they  should  succeed  in  so 
doing,  it  would  be  the  worst  injury  they 
could  inflict  upon  them.  Self-will  is  an 
evil ;  but  self-control  is  good  ;  the  one  is 
the  abuse,  the  other  the  condition  of  human 
individuality.  It  is  not  at  all  desirable  that 
any  man  should  lose  his  sense  of  individuality, 
and  should,  chameleon-like,  become  simply 
the  reflection  of  his  environment.  What 
gives  interest  to  life  is  the  variety  of  ex- 
perience and  character  ;  what  makes  men 
and  women  mutually  helpful  is  that  they  are 
severally  different.  As  has  been  said,  it 
takes  all  sorts  of  men  to  make  a  world.  It  is 
right  that  every  man  should  seek  to  be  him- 
self, to  develop  his  own  individuality, 
instead  of  being  a  mere  copy  of  his  parents, 
teachers,  or  companions.  That  man  should 
seek  control  over  his  own  portion  of  goods 
is  both  natural  and  necessary. 

(2)  In  his  self- development  there  is  an 
alternative  before  him  ;  he  is  midway  be- 
tween the  beast  and  the  angel ;  the  animal 
appetites  on  the  one  hand  clamour,  the 
spiritual  ideals  on  the  other  hand  call.     As 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

he  yields  to  the  one  or  the  other  Is  his 
reahsation  of  himself  for  evil  or  for  good  ; 
he  sinks  to  the  beast,  or  soars  to  the  angel ; 
and  the  possibility  of  the  angel  in  him  re- 
fused makes  the  reality  of  the  beast  the  more 
beastly.  The  beast's  appetites  are  limited 
by  instinct ;  the  man's  appetites  are  in- 
creased by  the  promise  and  potency  of  being 
more  than  the  beast.  There  is  one  effect  of 
this  choice  that  must  here  be  especially 
emphasised.  As  a  man  yields  to  appetite, 
his  self  isolates  itself  from  and  opposes 
itself  to  other  selves ;  his  self- development 
is  more  and  more  characterised  by  self-vdll, 
regardless  of  and  antagonistic  to  other 
wills.  But  if  on  the  contrary  he  surrenders 
himself  to  his  ideals,  the  self  enters  into 
ever  wider  relations  with  other  selves ; 
his  self-control  is  a  co-operation  with  other 
wills  for  common  ends.  Whether  then 
man's  will  to  be  himself,  which  is  both 
natural  and  necessary,  shall  be  self-will 
isolating  from  others,  or  self-control,  relating 
to  others,  depends  on  his  choice  of  the 
appetites  or  the  ideals  as  the  ends  of  his 
34 


What  is   Man  ? 

self-realisation.  It  is  in  the  will  to  be 
himself,  and  the  possibility  of  the  choice  of 
appetite,  and  the  assertion  of  self-will  that 
the  source  in  man  of  sin  must  be  recognised. 
(3)  This  self-assertion  is  not  limited  to 
man's  social  relations,  his  intercourse  with 
his  fellow-man  ;  he  has  the  religious  relation 
to  God  ;  even  in  the  lowest  stages  of  human 
development  there  is  some  consciousness 
of  the  divine,  and  of  dependence  on  and 
obligation  to  the  divine.  Man's  self-will, 
therefore,  isolates  him  from  and  opposes 
him  to  God  as  well  as  man.  Absolutely 
dependent  on  God,  and  unable  to  divest 
himself  entirely  of  his  sense  of  dependence, 
he  may  yet  assert  his  self-will  even  against 
the  will  of  God.  He  may  distrust  and 
disobey  what  he  acknowledges  to  be  his 
God.  While  in  practice  the  fool  says  in  his 
heart,  There  is  no  God,  for  he  acts  as 
though  God's  moral  authority  were  non- 
existent for  him,  it  is  but  seldom  that  in 
theory  he  goes  on  to  deny  the  divine  exist- 
ence. Practical  atheism  is  much  more 
common    than    theoretical ;     and    many    a 

35 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

man  who  is  clearly  guilty  of  the  former 
would  be  filled  with  indignation  if  he  were 
charged  with  the  latter  ;  but  it  is  important 
that  this  consideration  should  be  pressed, 
that  self-will  is  practical  atheism.  God  calls 
in  the  ideals,  and  to  realise  the  ideals  is  to 
maintain  our  dependence  on  Him  ;  whereas 
to  yield  to  our  appetites  is  to  distrust  and 
disobey  Him  on  whom  we  must  depend  in 
all  things.  There  are  some  who  making 
man  altogether  master  of  himself  take  the 
next  step  and  deny  that  there  is  any  God 
on  whom  he  depends.  So  natural  to  man  is 
the  impulse  to  religion,  the  recognition  of 
the  divine,  that  it  is  not  unjust  to  argue  that 
the  theoretical  atheism  results  from  the 
practical  in  the  history  of  the  race,  although, 
of  course,  we  must  be  on  our  guard  in 
ascribing  to  any  individual  to-day  intel- 
lectual difficulties  about  the  existence  of 
God  to  moral  defiance  of  the  authority  of 
God.  Yet  much  may  be  said  in  support  of 
the  contention  that  it  is  as  men  disobey  God 
in  their  ways  that  they  seek  to  forget  God 
in  their  thoughts.     In  his  career  of  vice  the 

36 


What  is  Man  ? 

prodigal  thought  as  little  of  his  father  as 
he  could  ;  it  was  only  when  he  came  to 
himself  that  he  bethought  him  of  his  father's 
house.  Man,  though  dependent  on  God, 
has  the  power  to  assert  himself  in  the  grati- 
fication of  his  appetites,  not  only  against 
his  fellow-men,  but  even  against  God  Him- 
self ;  and  as  he  so  asserts  himself  his  con- 
sciousness of  God  grows  less  distinct,  and 
so  the  restraints  which  that  consciousness 
imposes  become  less  potent  ;  and  it  becomes 
possible  for  the  creature  to  distrust  and 
disobey,  and  at  last  to  ignore  and  deny  the 
Creator.  But  it  may  well  be  asked.  How 
does  God  permit  such  a  development  of 
his  creature  ? 

3.  God  Assents  to  Man's  Liberty. 

(i)  The  father  in  the  parable  complied 
with  the  younger  son's  request,  though  it 
would  not  be  hidden  from  his  insight 
what  use  the  son  wanted  to  make  of  his 
portion,  or  from  his  foresight  what  the  issue 
of  such  an  abuse  of  his  inheritance  would  be. 
God  has  chosen  to  give  man  liberty,  even 
37 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

although  that  liberty  is  abused  in  distrust 
of  and  disobedience  to  Himself.  What 
is  the  reason  ?  Firstly^  men  are  not  merely 
creatures  of  God  to  be  controlled  by  His 
omnipotence  ;  they  are  made  in  God's  like- 
ness and  for  God's  fellowship  as  children  ; 
and  so  they  must  be  controlled  through 
their  own  voluntary  obedience  to  God's 
moral  authority.  There  can  be  the  relation 
of  creator  and  creature  without  freedom  ; 
but  there  cannot  be  the  relation  of  father 
and  child.  Love  cannot  be  forced  ;  obedi- 
ence cannot  be  compelled.  God  desiring 
to  gather  around  Him  a  loving  family 
endowed  mankind  with  freedom.  But 
freedom  is  not  real  where  there  is  no  choice  ; 
there  must  be  possibility  of  evil  as  well  as  of 
good  where  there  is  liberty.  The  will  that 
can  obey  must  also  be  able  to  defy  ;  the 
heart  that  can  trust  and  love  must  also  be 
capable  of  distrust  and  estrangement. 
Hence  even  divine  omnipotence  could  not 
create  a  child  of  God  who  could  not  become 
a  sinner  against  God. 

(2)  But  if  that  is  granted,  the  further  objec- 

38 


What  is  Man  ? 

tion  may  be  urged.  Did  not  God  forsee  what 
the  abuse  of  human  liberty  would  be  ;  and 
should  not  the  vision  of  all  the  evil  to  be 
have  restrained  the  creative  hand  of  God  ? 
In  answer  to  this  question  two  considera- 
tions may  be  offered.  First  of  all,  it  is  by  no 
means  so  certain  that  God  does  foresee  free 
action.  Until  the  choice  is  made,  two 
possibilities  are  open  ;  and  God  does  foresee 
the  two  possibilities.  To  afhrm  that  He 
also  foresees  which  of  the  two  shall  be 
chosen  is  surely  to  contradict  the  fact  of  the 
possibility  of  both.  God's  foreknowledge 
of  the  choice  made  would  surely  limit  man's 
freedom  in  making.  This  line  of  thought  is 
suggested  not  as  a  solution  of  the  problem, 
but  rather  as  an  indication  of  the  contradic- 
tion in  which  we  must  involve  ourselves  as 
soon  as  we  go  beyond  the  limits  set  to  our 
intelligence,  and  begin  making  confident 
assertions  as  to  what  God  does  or  does  not 
foreknow. 

Secondly,     had     God     abstained      from 
creating,    evil    would    have    defeated    God 
before  it  ever  came  to  actuality.     But  it 
39 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

may  be  urged,  Whenever  the  evil  choice 
wsis  made,  why  did  God  not  w^ithdraw  the 
abused  gift  ?  The  answ^er  is  twofold.  Fir  sty 
God's  end  of  a  loving  family  of  God  is  so 
absolutely  good  that,  as  God  willed  it  at 
any  risk,  He  will  pursue  it  at  any  cost. 
Better  far  a  world  redeemed  from  sin  than 
no  world  at  all.  Secondly,  God's  con- 
tinuance of  the  race  in  spite  of  its  sin  is 
surely  the  guarantee  that  His  resources  are 
such  that  He  can  overrule  the  sin  of  man 
for  His  glory,  and  can  bring  greater  good 
out  of  all  the  evil  of  the  world.  Is  there  not 
even  a  hint  in  the  parable  itself  that  the 
son  who  left  home  for  the  far  country  was 
more  completely  recovered  for  the  father's 
heart  than  the  elder  brother  who  remained 
at  home  ?  Sin  is  sin,  and  only  evil ;  but, 
nevertheless,  God  can  by  His  grace  so 
conquer  sin  that  the  joy  of  the  recovery  of 
the  lost  is  greater  than  it  would  have  been 
had  there  been  no  loss  and  no  recoveryt 


40 


IV 

WHAT  IS  SIN? 


CHAPTER  IV. 
WHAT  IS  SIN  ? 

*'  And  not  many  days  after,  the  younger  son  gathered 
all  together,  and  took  his  journey  into  a  far  country,  and 
there  he  wasted  his  substance  with  riotous  living." — 
Luke  xv.  13. 

In  dealing  with  the  nature  of  man  in  the 
previous  section,  it  was  impossible  to  avoid 
altogether  some  anticipation  of  what  has 
to  be  said  here  about  the  nature  of  sin  ;  but 
the  endeavour  was  made  to  confine  the 
treatment  there  to  the  possibility  in  man  of 
sinning.  Now  we  are  to  fix  our  attention 
rather  on  the  actuality  of  sin  ;  but,  as  we 
are  being  guided  by  the  story  before  us, 
we  must  consider  only  those  aspects  of  sin 
which  it  suggests.  These  are  three :  (i) 
There  is  abuse  of  God''s  gifts  ;  "  not  many 
days  after,  the  younger  son  gathered  all 
43 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

together."  (2)  'There  is  absence  from  God  ; 
"  and  took  his  journey  into  a  far  country." 
(3)  ^here  is  abandonment  of  God's  purpose ; 
"  and  there  wasted  his  substance  with 
riotous  living." 

I.  There  is  Abuse  of  God's  Gifts. 

What  is  the  tragedy  and  the  crime  of  sin 
is  that  it  is  God's  goodness  alone  which  makes 
sin  possible  ;  it  is  man's  dignity  as  made  in 
the  likeness,  and  for  the  fellowship  of  God 
which  is  both  the  occasion  and  the  measure 
of  his  degradation.  The  stars  move  in  their 
courses  with  unchanging  order,  subject  to 
unvarying  laws ;  even  the  lower  animals 
are  guided  by  instinct,  and  are  kept  within 
the  bounds  of  their  being.  But  man  turns 
his  glory  into  his  shame.  Had  man  not  a 
mind  that  could  think  truth  he  could  not 
devise  falsehood  ;  had  he  not  a  heart  that 
could  delight  in  God  he  could  not  find 
pleasure  in  evil ;  had  he  not  a  will  that  could 
choose  the  right  he  could  not  prefer  the 
wrong.  We  must  ever  look  at  sin  in  the  light 
of  what    God  has    made  man,  and   meant 

44 


What  is  Sin? 

man  to  be.  Where  there  is  the  actuality 
of  falsehood,  hate,  and  iniquity,  there  is 
also  the  possibility  of  truth  and  love  and 
righteousness.  The  very  same  faculties 
v^^hich  abused  make  man  beastly  and  selfish, 
would,  if  exercised  according  to  God's  will, 
make  him  angelic  and  godlike.  We  must 
measure  the  depth  to  which  man  sinks  by 
the  height  to  which  he  may  soar.  The 
standard  by  which  the  abuse  of  manhood 
which  sin  involves  must  ever  be  measured  is 
the  character  of  Christ  Himself.  In  this 
we  see  the  Father's  gifts  of  mind  and  heart 
and  will  ever  exercised  according  to  the 
Father's  will  in  truth,  love,  and  holiness  for 
the  Father's  glory.  On  the  one  hand  we 
see  mankind  because  of  sin  clothed  with 
shame  and  scorn  ;  but  we  see  on  the  other 
hand  Jesus  crowned  with  glory  and  honour. 
It  is  not  with  some  imagined  primitive 
state  of  man  that  we  are  to  compare  man's 
actual  condition  ;  but  with  the  possibility 
of  his  manhood,  as  it  is  realised  perfectly 
in  Jesus  Christ.  Accordingly  it  is  only  as 
we  know  Christ  that  we  can  know  what  sin 
45 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

is,  for  we  see  in  Him  realised  what  God 
meant  man  to  be,  and  thus  we  can  measure 
how  far  short  man  has  fallen  in  what  he 
now  is.  The  abuse  of  the  best  is  surely  the 
worst. 

2.  There  is  Absence  from  God. 

(i)  At  home  in  the  father's  presence  the 
prodigal  could  not  have  abused  his  father's 
gifts ;  he  must  put  a  distance  between 
himself  and  his  father  that  he  might  get 
licence  for  himself.  Wickedness  must  ever 
lead  to  godlessness.  Sin  involves,  and  cannot 
but  involve,  a  sfiritual  separation  from  God. 
It  is  true  that  no  man  can  escape  God's 
omnipresence  ;  and  there  are  times  in  the 
experience  of  the  sinner  when  the  presence 
of  God  is  a  terror  to  him,  but,  nevertheless,  it 
is  possible  for  a  man  to  depart  from  and 
forget  God.  His  mind  can  be  so  filled  with 
falsehood  that  it  has  no  room  for  truth  ; 
his  heart  may  be  so  possessed  v/ith  hate 
that  love  cannot  there  make  its  habitation  ; 
his  will  may  be  so  controlled  by  evil  that  good 
may    lose     all     sovereignty    over    it ;     the 

46 


What  is  Sin? 

appetites  may  expel  all  the  ideals  and  the 
aspirations.  If  the  thought  of  God  does 
and  will  obtrude  itself  in  memories  of 
better  days  of  childhood's  innocence,  or  in 
pleadings  and  warnings  of  present  human 
love,  then  as  God's  existence  cannot  be 
denied,  His  love  is  distrusted,  and  His 
claim  is  defied.  Paul  in  his  doctrine  of 
human  depravity  in  Romans  i.  and  ii.  makes 
godlessness  the  cause  of  wickedness,  and  not 
wickedness  the  cause  of  godlessness  ;  and 
sees  even  in  wickedness  the  divine  penalty  on 
godlessness  :  and  Jesus  here  follows  the  same 
course ;  before  the  prodigal  wastes  his 
substance,  he  goes  into  the  far  country.  It 
is  probable  that  wickedness  and  godlessness 
act  and  react.  It  is  as  the  consciousness  of 
God  becomes  obscure,  that  the  conscience 
of  evil  becomes  indistinct ;  it  is  as  men 
banish  God  from  their  thoughts,  that  they 
come  under  the  power  of  the  world  and  sin. 
It  is  probable  that  the  grosser  forms  of 
immorality  are  possible  only  as  the  restraints 
of  belief  in  God  are  cast  off.  Indulgence  in 
sin  involves  distrust  and  defiance  of  God, 
47 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

and  the  further  the  estrangement  from  God 
goes,  the  greater  is  the  abandonment  likely 
to  be.  If  a  man  lives,  conscious  of  God's 
presence,  responsive  to  God's  appeal  in 
conscience,  receptive  of  God's  grace  through 
His  Spirit,  evil  is  excluded  by  the  possession 
of  mind  and  heart  and  will  by  good.  If, 
however,  the  soul  be  empty  of  God,  it  will 
soon  be  filled  with  wickedness.  Had  the 
prodigal  loved  his  father,  he  would  not 
have  asked  for  his  portion.  Had  he  not 
left  home  for  the  far  country,  he  would  not 
have  wasted  his  substance  in  riotous  living. 
We  must  not  try  to  answer  the  question, 
whether  godlessness  or  wickedness  comes 
first ;  for  each  goes  with  and  begets  the 
other. 

(2)  It  is  important  to-day  to  insist  on  this 
companionship  ;  for  there  is  an  attempt  to 
detach  morality  from  religion,  and  to 
represent  it  as  altogether  independent  of 
religion.  There  are,  it  is  true,  moral  men 
who  are  irreligious  ;  but  then  they  accept 
the  morality  of  a  society  which  acknowledges 
the  authority  of  God  in  conscience.    The 

48 


What  is  Sin? 

real  issue  is  not  whether  one  man  can  be 
moral  without  religion ;  but  whether,  if 
religion  died  in  a  society,  its  morality 
would  be  as  living.  A  morality  based  on 
necessary  social  relations  might  survive  ;  but 
would  the  morality  of  a  perfect  ideal  and 
a  holy  aspiration  live  on  ?  But  without 
pursuing  this  question  further,  we  may 
insist  on  the  practical  consideration  that  sin 
and  God  are  mutually  exclusive  ;  if  a  man 
chooses  his  own  will,  he  disobeys  and 
defies  God's.  If  he  thinks  falsely  he  ex- 
cludes God  as  truth  ;  if  he  feels  hate,  he 
shuts  out  God  as  love  ;  if  he  does  wickedly 
y  e  withstands  God  as  righteousness.  To  be 
thus  mentally,  morally,  and  spiritually  separ- 
ated from  God  is  a  very  serious  and  perilous 
condition.  It  is  as  fatal  to  the  truest,  best, 
and  most  blessed  life  of  man,  as  it  would  be 
to  a  man's  bodily  life  were  he  deprived  of 
air  for  him  to  breathe,  heat  to  warm  him, 
or  food  to  nourish  him.  Estrangement  from 
God  means  the  atrophy  of  the  mind  and 
the  heart,  the  paralysis  of  the  wiU.  It  is 
the  disease  and  at  last  the  death  of  his 
49 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

spiritual  nature ;  it  is  the  defeat  of  his 
destiny  unto  a  blessed  and  a  glorious  im- 
mortality, for  it  is  in  God  alone  man  has 
eternal  life. 

We  should  not,  however,  be  adequately 
interpreting  the  mind  of  Jesus  if  we  did  not 
insist  that  man's  estrangement  from  God 
is  not  only  his  own,  but  also  God's  loss. 
As  the  father  of  the  prodigal  missed  his  son, 
so  God  feels  the  want  of  the  trust  and  the 
love,  the  honour  and  the  service  of  Hi^ 
children.  Man's  absence  from  God  means 
for  man  the  loss  of  the  blessings  love  confers  ; 
but  for  God  the  loss  of  the  blessedness  of 
bestowing  these  gifts ;  and  it  is  the  father's 
rather  than  the  son's  loss  on  which  Jesus 
lays  stress  in  the  parable. 

3.  There  is  Abandonment  of  God's 
Purpose. 

(i)  When  the  prodigal  got  into  the  far 
country,  away  from  all  the  restraints  of 
home,  the  passions  and  the  appetites  had 
then  full  and  free  sway,  and  all  his  wealth 
was  squandered  in  their  indulgence.  This 
50 


What  is  Sin? 

descent  of  the  soul  into  vice  is  effected  in 
two  ways  by  the  departure  from  God. 
Firstly,  man  is  made  for  God's  fellowship 
with  a  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  soul  after 
God  ;  and  if  he  does  not  meet  that  need 
in  God's  companionship,  there  will  be  an 
insatiable  craving  for  some  other  satisfac- 
tion. Man's  appetites  are  so  exaggerated 
in  comparison  with  the  lower  animals', 
just  because  of  the  infinitude  of  the  need 
which  God  alone  can  satisfy.  Intemperance 
and  sensuality  go  far  beyond  the  satisfaction 
of  a  bodily  need,  because  man  is  seeking 
through  animal  appetites  to  meet  a  want 
which  can  be  met  only  through  spiritual 
aspiration.  Lust  is  perverted  love  ;  sensu- 
ality is  inverted  spirituality.  Secondly,  if 
man  turns  from  God  to  the  flesh,  the 
restraints  which  the  love  of  God  would  put 
on  all  satisfaction  of  the  legitimate  necessities 
of  the  body  is  removed ;  and  it  is  the 
characteristic  of  the  animal  appetites  in 
man  that  unless  kept  under  rigid  restraint 
by  conscience,  they  become  rebellious ; 
and,  when  the  lawful  sovereignty  of  God 

51 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

in  the  soul  has  been  overthrown,  even 
tyrannous.  The  man  v^ho  seeks  freedom 
by  pleasing  himself  becomes  enslaved  to 
his  ov^n  appetites ;  and  there  is  imposed 
on  him  an  ever-increasing  bondage,  v^hich, 
making  ever  greater  demands  on  him,  brings 
ever  less  satisfaction  to  him. 

(2)  It  v^ould  be  incredible,  did  not  human 
life  abound  in  instances,  how  completely 
men  waste  their  substance,  wealth,  health, 
home,  happiness,  character,  and  reputation 
with  riotous  living.  In  our  own  land  we 
have  but  to  think  of  the  victims  of  intemper- 
ance to  realise  how  low  man  will  sink,  if  he 
refuses  to  soar,  and  allows  himself  to  be 
mastered  by  the  lust  of  sin  instead  of  the 
love  of  God.  We  must,  however,  beware  of 
the  error  that  it  is  only  in  the  indulgence  of 
the  animal  appetites  that  the  soul  can  be 
lost.  Social  morality  rebukes  such  indul- 
gence ;  its  immediate  consequences  often 
produce  a  revulsion  of  feeling  ;  and  at  least 
the  soul  is  not  allowed  to  rest  in  a  false 
peace.  There  are  sins  of  greed,  pride, 
envy,  which  are  more  secret  and  subtle  ;  and 
52 


What  is  Sin? 

for  that  very  reason  all  the  more  dangerous. 
Jesus  seems  to  have  judged  the  condition  of 
the  publicans  and  sinners  as  more  hopeful 
than  the  state  of  the  Pharisees.  It  is,  we 
must  insist,  not  only  the  sin  which  arises  from 
self-indulgence  in  its  varied  forms  that  is 
ruin  to  the  soul.  Avarice,  Ambition,  Vain- 
glory, Hate — all  these  sins  of  the  soul,  having 
no  relation  to  bodily  needs  at  all,  may  be 
as  destructive,  if  not  even  more  destructive, 
of  the  love  of  God,  and  the  fulfilment  of 
the  end  of  the  life  of  man.  In  whatever 
way  man  abandons  God's  purpose  of  truth, 
holiness,  and  love,  and  follows  the  flesh,  the 
world,  or  the  self  along  the  paths  of  his  own 
devising,  and  not  of  God's  appointing,  he 
is  sinning,  and  in  sinning  is  abusing  God's 
gifts,  and  is  separating  himself  from  the 
love  of  God. 


53 


V. 

WHAT  IS  JUDGMENT? 


CHAPTER  V. 
WHAT  IS  JUDGMENT  ? 

"And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty 
famine  in  that  land  ;  and  he  began  to  be  in  want.  And  he 
went  and  joined  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that  country;  and 
he  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine.  And  he  would 
fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine 
did  eat:  and  no  man  gave  unto  him." — Luke  xv.  14-16 
(A.V.). 

"And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty 
famine  in  that  country ;  and  he  began  to  be  in  want. 
And  he  went  and  joined  himself  to  one  of  the  citizens  of 
that  country ;  and  he  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed 
swine.  And  he  would  fain  have  been  filled  with  the 
husks  (marg.  Gr.  the  pods  of  the  car  oh  tree)  that  the 
swine  did  eat:  and  no  man  gave  unto  him." — (R.V.) 

When  the  word  Judgment  is  used  in  regard 
to  sin,  we  are  too  prone  to  think  of  the  future 
penalty  of  sin  that  God  is  expected  to  im- 
pose ;  and  men  are  sometimes  tempted  to 
believe  that  they  may  by  a  timely  repentance 

57 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

avert  that  judgment.  The  use  of  the  term 
may  make  the  penalty  of  sin  appear  as 
arbitrary  and  uncertain  as  are  often  the 
sentences  of  the  human  law-court.  Jesus 
in  this  parable  makes  the  penalty  follow 
inevitably  on  the  offence  ;  and  it  would  be 
well  if  Christian  preachers  would  lay  stress 
on  the  fact  that  the  consequences  of  sin  are 
immediate  and  inevitable  ;  their  character  is 
determined  by  the  nature  of  the  sin.  The 
closeness  of  this  connection  Paul  indicates 
when  he  states  that  "  the  wages  of  sin 
is  death,"  or  even  more  forcefully  in  the 
figure,  *'  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap."  While  we  should 
therefore  insist  that  the  penalty  of  sin  is 
causally  related  to  the  sin,  is  its  consequence ; 
yet  we  must  not  abandon  the  term  judg- 
ment ;  for  that  would  be  to  substitute  an 
impersonal  nature  for  a  living  God ;  and  in 
religion  especially  it  is  of  primary  importance 
to  maintain  the  sense  of  personal  relation, 
that  man  in  sinning  is  distrusting  and  dis- 
obeying God,  and  that  in  suffering  the 
consequences  of  his  sin  he  is  enduring  the 

58 


What  is  Judgment  ? 

judgment  of  God.  What  are  the  elements 
of  God's  judgment  on  sin  that  are  suggested 
by  the  description  of  the  prodigal's  state  ? 
(i)  There  is  destitution.  "  When  he  had 
spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that 
land  ;  and  he  began  to  be  in  want."  (2) 
Next  comies  degradation.  "  And  he  went  and 
joined  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that  country  ; 
and  he  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed 
swine."  (3)  Lastly,  there  is  nothing  but 
disappointment.  *'  And  he  would  fain  have 
been  filled  with  the  husks  that  the  swine 
did  eat,  and  no  man  gave  unto  him." 


I.  D 


ESTITUTION. 


(i)  The  destitution  is  inward  and  outward  ; 
there  is  the  famine  in  the  land,  and  there  is 
the  want  because  all  has  been  spent.  With- 
out incurring  the  condemnation  of  allegor- 
ising we  may  venture  to  follow  out  the 
suggestion  that  the  poverty  which  is  the 
judgment  of  sin  is  not  confined  to  material 
resources.  Both  the  world  around  and  the 
soul  within  are  bankrupt  because  of  sin. 
The  world  does  not  and  cannot  yield  the 
59 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

satisfaction  to  the  soul  that  it  once  did  ;  and 
the  soul  is  not  rich  enough  in  itself  to 
provide  its  own  satisfaction.  It  is  a  known 
fact  that  the  field  of  animal  appetite  and 
sensual  indulgence  yields  an  ever-diminishing 
return,  the  longer  the  cultivation  the  less 
the  fertility  of  that  soil.  The  drunkard  has 
less  pleasure  in  his  drinking,  and  the  sensualist 
in  his  uncleanness,  the  longer  he  continues 
in  the  evil  habit.  Even  less  gross  pleasures 
of  sense  do  not  increase  in  the  satisfaction 
that  they  afford.  The  greater  the  use  the 
smaller  the  return.  For  the  pleasure- 
seeker  the  world  appears  more  and  more  as 
a  vain  show,  in  which  there  is  no  enduring 
substance.  How  different  is  it  in  the  culture 
of  the  higher  interests  :  the  pursuit  of  truth 
is  ever  more  rewarding ;  the  effort  for 
holiness  is  ever  bringing  a  loftier  aspiration 
and  also  a  larger  satisfaction.  Love  increases 
as  it  continues. 

(2)  But  if  the  man  who  has  lived  for  the 

lower  pleasures  turns  from  the  world  because 

"  there  is  a  famine  in  the  land,"  does  he  find, 

or  can  he  find,  that  his  own  mind  is  his  king- 

60 


what  is  Judgment  ? 

dom  with  resources  greater  than  any  that  the 
world  can  offer  ?  Assuredly  not.  He  has 
spent  his  all ;  inwardly  as  well  as  outwardly 
he  is  in  want.  The  capacities  of  the  person- 
ality, which  legitimately  used  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  higher  interests  would  have 
been  continuously  developed  for  fuller  use, 
improperly  abused  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
lower  pleasures,  deteriorate.  The  man  can- 
not interest  himself  in  thoughts  of  truth,  or 
aims  of  goodness,  who  has  squandered  mind 
and  will  on  self-indulgence,  in  devising  and 
in  providing  the  means  of  sensuous  joy. 
Although  the  reaction  is  most  evident  in  the 
gratification  of  animal  appetites,  yet  in  lesser 
degree  whenever  a  man  lives  for  ends  un- 
worthy of  his  manhood,  the  world  gives  him 
ever  less  return  for  all  his  labour,  and  he 
discovers  that  his  own  inner  resources  are 
diminishing.  Could  we  expect  it  to  be 
otherwise  ?  This  destitution  is  evidence  that 
we  are  meant  for  something  higher ;  for 
God  has  made  us  for  Himself,  and  our 
hearts  must  be  restless  until  they  find  their 
rest  in  Him.  The  child  of  God  made  with 
6i 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

the  infinite  need  of  God  will  find  famine 
without  and  want  within  if  he  attempts 
to  meet  that  need  with  any  of  the  finite 
pleasures  that  sense  or  world  can  offer. 
And  yet  the  famine  and  the  want  do  not 
at  once  arrest  the  downward  course  of  ever 
more  fruitless  endeavour  to  find  self-satis- 
faction in  self-indulgence. 

2.  Degradation. 

The  actions  assigned  to  the  prodigal  in 
the  parable  indicate  a  twofold  degradation. 
The  Jew  held  aloof  from  the  Gentile  ;  and 
for  a  Jew  to  join  himself  in  service  to  a 
Gentile  was  surely  a  degradation.  But  to 
be  compelled  to  feed  swine,  the  unclean 
animals,  the  use  of  which  for  food  the  law 
strictly  prohibited,  was  to  descend  to  a  still 
lower  depth.  In  terms  of  local  sentiment 
this  description  puts  before  us  a  vivid  picture 
of  how  man  degrades  himself  when  he  yields 
to  sin.  There  is  not  only  servitude,  but 
shameful  servitude.  When  we  look  on  the 
face  of  the  drunkard  or  the  sensualist,  do  we 
not  see  that  degradation  written  in  the  very 
62 


What  is  Judgment  ? 

face  ?  Can  there  be  a  sight  more  pitiful  than 
the  grace  of  womanhood  marked  with  the 
tokens  of  vice  !  And  the  change  of  outward 
form  is  but  a  sign  of  the  change  of  inward 
condition.  It  would  be  incredible,  did  we 
not  know  it  in  reality,  how  polluted  the 
conscience  can  become,  how  perverted  the 
affections,  how  foul  the  imagination,  how 
uncertain  the  reason,  and  how  enslaved  the 
will.  How  the  victim  of  such  a  degradation 
often  loathes  himself,  and  yet  he  sees  no 
way  of  escape.  There  are  sins  that  do  not 
thus  mar  the  form,  and  do  not  thus  lower 
all  the  powers ;  and  yet  in  the  measure  in 
which  any  sin  asserts  itselt  and  gains  the 
dominion,  there  is  a  degradation.  The 
avaricious  man  estimates  all  values  of  art, 
literature,  or  even  morals  and  religion,  in 
cash.  A  minister's  worth,  for  instance,  is 
fixed  by  the  salary  that  he  can  command. 
The  writer  was  some  time  ago  in  the  midst 
of  a  community  which  was  making  almost 
indescribable  material  progress ;  and  he  was 
being  constantly  shocked  by  the  almost 
universal  habit  of  estimating  all  values  by 
63 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

dollars.  To  the  ambitious  man,  love  and 
friendship  even  are  only  the  means  of  self- 
advancement.  The  v^hole  man  and  his 
whole  world  are  dragged  dov^ni  into  the 
servitude  of  his  tyrannous  passion.  Again 
it  is  man's  dignity  that  measures  his  degrada- 
tion. A  being  of  less  capacity  for  progress 
would  be  less  capable  of  decadence  ;  the 
possibility  of  the  rise  is  the  measure  of  the 
actuality  of  the  fall.  It  is  the  sense  of  the 
might'have-heen  that  is  the  source  of  the 
misery  and  shame  of  that-which-is.  It  is 
the  memory  of  the  father's  house  that  makes 
the  far  country  such  a  degradation. 

3.  Disappointment. 

(i)  This  degradation  is  unrelieved  by  any 
satisfaction  which  it  might  be  endured  to 
secure.  The  prodigal  joined  himself  to  a 
citizen  of  the  country,  and  went  out  to  feed 
swine,  but  he  did  not  thereby  escape  either 
the  famine  or  the  want.  What  he  asked 
was  not  given  to  him.  Even  in  the  destitu- 
tion and  the  degradation  there  are  desires 
64 


What  is  Judgment 


? 


and  expectations  that,  if  the  best  gift  cannot 
any  longer  be  gained,  yet  the  worst  need 
may  be  escaped ;  still  even  this  limited 
anticipation  is  disappointed.  "  No  man 
gave  unto  him."  The  penalty  of  self- 
indulgence  is  unquenched  and  unquenchable 
desire ;  even  although  the  soul  would 
satisfy  itself  with  the  lowest  forms  of 
pleasure,  it  fails  to  find  that  satisfaction. 
The  companions  in  sin  do  not  accept  the 
partnership  of  misery,  if  they  can  avoid  it. 
Those  on  whom  the  portion  has  been 
squandered  do  not  offer  their  help  in  the 
time  of  need.  When  Judas  came  to  the 
priests  with  "  the  price  of  blood  "  they  had 
no  care  or  comfort  for  him.  "  What  is 
that  to  us  ?  see  thou  to  that  !  "  The  sinner 
soon  discovers  the  heartless  cruelty  of 
sinners.  The  tool  is  cast  away  as  soon  as  its 
work  is  done.  God  has  been  distrusted  and 
disobeyed  that  the  world,  the  flesh,  the  self 
might  be  satisfied ;  but  that  satisfaction 
has  been  denied  ;  less  and  less  becomes  the 
claim  on  life  for  any  good  ;  but  so  long  as 
the  soul  remains  in  the  far  country,  even  the 
65 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

smallest   claim     is   unheeded.      "  No   man 
gave  unto  him." 

(2)  This  destitution,  degradation,  and 
disappointment  were  the  beginning  of  the 
return.  The  punishment  of  sin  by  God 
is  not  merely  vindictive ;  it  is  primarily- 
remedial.  Man  is  allov^ed  to  suffer  to  the 
uttermost  the  bitterness  of  his  sin  that  there 
may  be  avi^akened  in  him  the  desire  for 
escape  and  recovery.  The  sinner  in  the 
most  hopeless  condition  is  he  who  is  not 
reaping  as  he  has  sowed.  There  is  a  cunning 
worldly  prudence  which  seems  to  be  able 
in  this  Hfe  at  least  to  evade  the  consequences 
of  sin.  Some  wicked  men  do  appear  to 
prosper  in  this  world.  But  their  lot  is  not 
to  be  envied.  Better  the  crushing  grasp  of 
God's  judgment  which  shows  He  will  not  let 
the  sinner  go,  than  the  loss  of  even  the  sense 
of  God  in  His  judgments.  The  parable  does 
not,  and  as  a  story  could  not,  indicate  an 
aspect  of  the  divine  judgment  on  sin  that 
belongs  to  the  complete  revelation  and 
redemption  in  Christ.  The  father  in  the 
parable  remains  at  home  waiting  the  prodigal's 
66 


What  is  Judgment 


? 


return  ;  but  we  have  learned  in  Christ  that 
the  father  is  with  his  sinful  son  in  the  far 
country  sharing  his  misery  and  shame  as 
his  very  own.  God's  judgment  on  sin  is 
expressed  not  most  clearly  or  fully  in  what 
the  prodigal  suffers,  but  in  the  sorrow  of  the 
father.  The  two  companion  parables  of  the 
lost  sheep  and  the  lost  coin  supply  an  element 
of  truth  that  is  lacking  in  this  story.  The 
shepherd  follows  the  lost  sheep,  and  the 
woman  goes  to  where  the  lost  coin  is.  God 
in  Jesus  Christ  comes  into  these  very  con- 
ditions of  suffering,  sorrow,  and  shame  that 
sin  has  brought  upon  mankind,  and  in  the 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  shares  them  fully. 
In  that  sacrifice  there  is  presented  to  the 
human  conscience  a  fuller  and  clearer  judg- 
ment on  sin  than  in  all  the  misery  and  ruin 
that  sinners  may  bring  upon  themselves. 
The  contemplation  of  that  sacrifice,  the 
discovery  that  it  was  man's  sin  which  brought 
such  sorrow  to  God,  does  more  to  bring  man 
to  the  broken  and  the  contrite  heart  than 
all  the  woe  that  sinful  men  experience  as  a 
result  of  their  sin.     If  God  wills  that  men 

67 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

should  so  suffer  for  sin,  being  love,  could 
He  refrain  from  sharing  that  suffering  ;  and 
if  He  shares  it,  can  anything  else  so  ade- 
quately express  His  judgment  upon  sin  ? 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  in  the  Christian 
experience  it  is  the  Cross  of  Christ  which 
makes  a  more  potent  appeal  for  penitence 
than  all  the  consequences  of  sin  experienced 
by  the  individual  or  exhibited  in  the  history 
of  the  race,  is  it  not  folly,  if  not  worse,  to 
maintain  that,  because  this  parable  does  not 
mention  an  atoning  sacrifice,  therefore  the 
saving  death  does  not  necessarily  belong  to 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  ?  Is  it  not  much  more 
likely  that  truth  cannot  be  completely 
embodied  in  a  tale,  than  that  the  most 
intense  and  serious  Christian  experience 
should  be  under  a  delusion  in  maintaining 
that  we  are  redeemed  by  the  precious  blood 
of  God's  own  Son  ? 


68 


VI. 
WHAT  IS  PENITENCE? 


CHAPTER  VI. 
WHAT  IS  PENITENCE  ? 

"And  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  said,  How  many 
hired  servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to 
spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger  !  I  will  arise  and  go  to 
my  father,  and  will  say  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned 
against  heaven,  and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy 
to  be  called  thy  son :  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired 
servants.  And  he  arose,  and  came  to  his  father." — Luke 
XV.  17-20  (A.V.). 

"But  when  he  came  to  himself  he  said.  How  many 
hired  servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to 
spare,  and  I  perish  here  with  hunger  !  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  father,  and  will  say  unto  him.  Father,  I  have 
sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight :  I  am  no  more 
worthy  to  be  called  thy  son :  make  me  as  one  of  thy 
hired  servants.  And  he  arose,  and  came  to  his  father." — 
(R.V.) 

As  has  been  indicated  in  the  previous  section, 
the  end  of  God's  judgment  is  not  the  de- 
struction of  the  sinner,  but  the  separation 
of  the  sinner  from  his  sin  that  he  may  return 
71 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

to  God.  This  reconciliation  to  God  is 
effected  by  penitence  on  man's  side,  and 
pardon  on  God's.  We  must  first  of  all 
consider  penitence,  as  it  comes  first  in  the 
order  of  the  tale,  which,  however,  in  this 
respect  corresponds  rather  to  the  Old 
Testament  revelation  than  to  that  of  the 
New  Testament.  Here,  as  in  the  51st 
Psalm,  the  initiative  seems  to  be  with  man, 
and  not  with  God.  The  Psalmist  believes 
that  if  he  will  bring  the  sacrifice  of  a  broken 
and  contrite  heart  God  will  accept  it,  and 
will  forgive  his  sin  ;  so  the  prodigal  here 
resolves  to  return  and  make  his  appeal  for 
pardon  in  the  hope  that  the  appeal  will  not 
be  vain.  But  in  the  Christian  redemption 
the  initiative  lies  with  God  ;  it  is  He  who 
in  Christ  offers  His  pardon  unto  men,  and 
so  appeals  for  their  penitence.  When 
pardon  is  granted  on  penitence,  there  is  the 
assurance  that  the  sinner  has  judged  his 
own  sin  ;  and  therefore  God's  pardon  will 
not  be  misunderstood  as  making  light  of  his 
sin.  But  when  pardon  is  offered  to  peni- 
tence, a  twofold  problem  arises.  First  of 
72 


What  is  Penitence  ? 

all^  it  must  be  made  clear  that  God  does 
not  so  freely  pardon  sin,  because  He  thinks 
lightly  of  sin  ;  but  that  in  forgiving  the  sin 
He  has  already  judged  it.  Secondly^  the 
penitence,  to  which  the  pardon  is  offered, 
must  be  awakened  in  the  soul  of  man,  lest 
the  pardon  be  welcomed  as  a  substitute  for, 
instead  of  as  the  source  of,  penitence,  even 
as  in  Ancient  Israel  the  animal  sacrifices 
were  offered  not  as  a  token  but  in  the  place 
of  repentance  and  amendment.  This  two- 
fold problem  Christian  faith  finds  solved 
in  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  although 
Christian  theology  ever  seems  to  fail  ade- 
quately to  express  for  the  mind  the  relation. 
The  sacrifice  of  God  in  Christ's  Cross  ex- 
presses God's  judgment  as  well  as  forgive- 
ness, and  evokes  repentance  as  well  as  faith 
in  man.  We  must  remember  then  that 
this  parable  was  spoken  before  the  sacrifice 
revealed  God's  pardon  to  call  forth  man's 
penitence  ;  and  must  not  be  surprised  that, 
spoken  to  Jewish  opponents,  it  does  not 
betray  to  their  unfriendly  scrutiny  the 
secrets  of  Christian  faith,  but  is  presented 
7Z 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

from  the  standpoint  of  the  Old  Testament, 
where  pardon  waited  on  penitence. 

Although  the  term  penitence,  derived 
from  the  Latin,  suggests  mainly  grieved 
feeling,  and  the  Greek  word  metanoia^ 
used  in  the  Greek  Testament,  changed  mind, 
yet  penitence,  as  suggested  by  the  words 
"  He  came  unto  himself,"  involves  and 
affects  the  whole  self,  mind,  heart,  and  will 
alike ;  and  we  must  try  to  understand 
what  in  each  of  these  exercises  of  the  person- 
ality it  means,  (i)  It  is  first  of  all  for  the 
mind  self-discovery,  "  How  many  hired 
servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough 
and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger !  " 

(2)  It  is  next  for  the  heart  self -disgust. 
"  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  : 
make   me   as   one   of   thy  hired   servants." 

(3)  It  is  lastly  for  the  will  self-denial,  **  I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  say 
unto  him,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven, 
and  before  thee."  It  involves  a  division 
within  the  man  in  order  to  recover  harmony. 
The  self  to  which  the  man  comes  is  the 
higher  self,  which  hitherto  has  been  silenced 

74 


What  is  Penitence  ? 

and  suppressed  ;  but  now  asserts  itself,  and 
delivers  judgment  on  the  lower  self  which 
has  so  long  usurped  the  rule  in  the 
personality  ;  the  higher  self  discovers  the 
sin  and  the  shame  of  the  lower,  is  disgusted 
with  its  degradation  and  disgrace,  and 
denies  its  desires  and  impulses  in  the  resolve 
to  return  to  God  with  the  confession  of  sin. 
As  the  higher  self  corresponds  to  the  man 
as  God  made  him,  and  meant  him  to  be,  this 
enlightening,  quickening,  and  turning  of  the 
higher  self  against  the  lower  cannot  be  more 
fitly  described  than  in  the  words,  "  He  came 
unto  himself." 

I.  Self-Discovery. 

The  shame,  misery,  and  want  of  the 
prodigal  aroused  his  reason  ;  he  began  to 
compare  himself  as  he  was  in  the  far  country 
with  what  he  might  have  been  at  home. 
The  servants  have  fulness  of  bread,  the  son  is 
in  want  of  it.  Thus  he  begins  to  realise  the 
penalty  of  his  sin,  and  thereby  to  recognise 
its  guilt.  It  is  just  here  that  the  penitence 
of  many  men  begins.  They  find  out  that 
75 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

sin  does  not  pay  in  the  long  run,  that  the 
game  is  not  worth  the  candle,  that  the 
wages  of  sin  are  so  bad  that  its  gifts  are  not 
worth  having.  This  may  not  be  a  very 
high  motive  to  begin  with  ;  but  still  prudence 
is  better  than  imprudence,  and  wisdom  than 
folly.  It  is  better  for  a  man  to  feel  that  he 
has  been  playing  the  fool  than  to  be  content 
to  sink  lower  and  lower  towards  perdition. 
For  reason  with  its  louder  call  may  so  far 
still  the  clamour  of  passion  as  to  allow  the 
"  still  small "  voice  of  conscience  to  be  heard. 
The  prodigal  discovered  himself  to  be  far 
more  miserable  than  he  need  have  been  ; 
but  he  also  confessed  himself  to  be  much 
more  guilty.  He  admitted  to  himself  that 
it  was  not  his  own  bad  luck,  or  the  fault  of 
his  father,  or  the  ill-treatment  of  others 
that  had  brought  him  to  this  pass  ;  but  he 
blamed  himself.  Nothing  can  be  made  of  a 
man  until  his  self-discovery  has  gone  so  far 
that  he  sees  himself  not  only  as  miserable 
but  as  blameworthy,  as  undeserving  of  the 
gifts  of  God,  the  want  of  which  now  makes 
him  feel  so  miserable.     As  long,  for  instance, 

76 


what  is  Penitence  ? 

as  a  drunkard  blames  the  drink,  or  the 
publican,  or  his  boon-companions,  and 
excuses  himself,  he  is  not  penitent.  He 
must  come  to  his  conscience  to  be  self- 
condemned  before  the  process  of  con- 
version in  him  has  really  effectually  begun. 
This  self- discovery  may  come  in  different 
ways.  It  is  not  always  by  realising  the 
misery  that  a  man  recognises  the  guilt  of 
sin.  One  who  was  used  to  turn  multitudes 
from  sin  to  God  discovered  the  imperfection 
of  what  to  others  appeared  his  spotless 
life  when  he  realised  the  glory  of  Christ's 
moral  perfection.  Giuseppe  Caponsacchi  saw 
himself  as  the  priest  who  was  shaming  his 
calling  when  he  saw  the  depths  of  agony  in 
the  eyes  of  Pompilia  {The  Ring  and  the  Book). 

«*We  are  sunk  enough  here,  God  knows, 
But  not  quite  so  sunk  that  moments, 
Sure  though  seldom,  are  denied  us. 

When  the  spirit's  true  endowments 
Stand  out  clearly  from  its  false  ones, 

And  apprise  us,  if  pursuing 
On  the  right  way,  or  the  wrong  way. 
To  its  triumph  or  undoing." 

Browning,  Cristina. 

77 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

2.  Self-Disgust. 

As  the  prodigal  thinks  of  himself,  so  he 
feels  about  himself.  We  may  imagine  that 
a  youth  like  this  when  in  his  home  had 
looked  down  on  the  hired  servants  with 
contempt,  or  at  least  indifference ;  he 
expresses  his  own  self-contempt  by  now 
placing  himself  on  a  level  with  them.  By 
this  comparison  on  the  lips  of  the  prodigal 
Jesus  did  surely  mean  to  express  the  self- 
disgust  that  is  the  next  step  in  repentance. 
Nay,  that  self-disgust  goes  deeper  than  the 
comparison  to  the  hired  servants.  There 
is  a  difference  between  him  and  them,  and 
it  is  to  their  advantage.  It  is  only  by  an 
act  of  the  father's  grace  that  he  can  think 
of  himself  as  being  put  even  in  the  place  of 
the  hired  servants.  Reason  and  conscience, 
when  they  thus  discover  the  sinner  to  him- 
self, cannot  but  arouse  this  emotion  of  self- 
disgust,  of  humiliation.  The  man  who  knows 
himself  both  miserable  and  guilty  cannot  be 
pleased  with  himself,  but  must  feel  heartily 
ashamed   of  himself.     It   is   true   that   the 

78 


What  is  Penitence  ? 

emotional  capacity  of  men  varies,  as  does 
also  the  expression  of  their  emotions.  Some 
men  cannot  feel  deeply  ;  and  others  show 
least  what  they  feel  most.  We  must, 
therefore,  not  attempt  to  lay  down  any  rule 
as  regards  either  the  intensity  of  the  emotion, 
or  the  vigour  of  its  expression,  as  a  condition 
of  the  reality  of  the  penitence.  This  alone 
must  be  insisted  on,  that  as  long  as  a  man  feels 
quite  happy,  or  comfortable,  he  is  not  peni- 
tent. There  must  be  some  pain  and  grief 
at  sin  before  penitence  is  complete ;  for  it 
is  through  the  emotions  that  reason  and 
conscience  move  the  will ;  and  it  is  by  an 
act  of  will  alone  that  penitence  so  places  a 
man  before  God  that  he  can  receive  God's 
pardon.  If  the  self-discovery  and  the  self- 
disgust  do  not  lead  to  the  resolve  of  self- 
denial,  the  man  is  pictured  for  us  in  the  words 
of  James,  "  If  any  be  a  hearer  of  the  word, 
and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like  unto  a  man  behold- 
ing his  natural  face  in  a  glass,  for  he  beholdeth 
himself,  and  goeth  his  way,  and  straightway 
forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he  was." 
Such  a  beginning  of  penitence  only  hardens 
79 


The  Joy   of  Finding 

the  heart  the  more  the  oftener  it   is    re- 
peated. 

3.  Self-Denial. 

Self- discovery  and  self-disgust  lead  the 
prodigal  to  the  self-denial  of  the  resolve  to 
forsake  the  far  country,  to  return  home,  to 
humble  himself  hy  confessing  his  sin,  and 
submitting  himself  entirely  to  his  father's 
will.  Such  a  resolve  involved  the  self- 
denial  of  the  lusts  that  had  taken  him  to  the 
far  country,  of  the  wilfulness  that  had  made 
the  father's  rule  irksome,  of  the  pride  of 
independence,  and  the  shame  that  kept 
him  from  return.  The  lower  self  in  all  its 
desires  and  impulses  had  to  be  denied  that 
the  higher  self  might  be  recovered. 
Genuine  and  effective  penitence  must  always 
involve  such  self-denial.  Not  only  the 
practice  of,  but  all  desire  for,  and  delight  in 
sin  must  be  abandoned.  The  exercise  of  the 
will  regardless  of  restraint  of  law  or  con- 
straint of  love  must  be  given  up.  The 
authority  of  God,  even  should  He  at  first 
appear  to  impose  restrictions  and  obligations 
80 


what  is  Penitence  ? 

as  of  servitude  to  Him  rather  than  of  liberty 
with  Him,  must  be  accepted.  The  darHng 
sin  must  be  surrendered ;  the  strongest 
temptation  must  be  resisted  ;  the  greatest 
sacrifice,  if  need  be,  must  be  effected. 
For  the  practical  purpose  of  this  exposition 
we  need  not  make  any  elaborate  distinction 
here  between  repentance  and  conversion. 
The  one  is  the  negative,  the  other  the 
positive  aspect  of  the  one  process  ;  repent- 
ance is  the  separation  of  the  sinner  from  his 
sin,  and  conversion  is  the  return  of  the  sinner 
to  his  God.  The  Latin  word  foenitentia 
indicates  the  grief  of  the  heart ;  the  Greek 
word  /jLeravola  the  change  of  the  mind, 
and  the  word  conversion  points  to  the 
decisive  act  of  the  will,  a  turning  right 
round,  away  from  the  far  country,  back  to 
the  home.  The  story  represents  this 
decisive  act  as  accomplished  by  the  unaided 
human  will ;  but  in  the  reality  of  Christian 
experience  there  is  what  has  been  called 
the  frevenient  grace  of  God.  God  antici- 
pates man's  return  to  Him  by  the  pro- 
damation  of  the  Gospel  of  His  grace,  and 
8i 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

by  the  working  of  His  Spirit  in  the  reason 
and  the  conscience.  Repentance  itself  is 
an  act  of  faith,  receptive  of,  and  responsive 
to,  the  seeking,  pleading,  w^ooing  love  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ.  On  man's  part  it  is 
an  activity,  the  exercise  of  the  mind,  heart, 
and  will,  as  has  already  been  indicated  in 
self-discovery,  self-disgust,  and  self-denial ; 
but  it  is,  and  must  ever  be,  a  receptive 
rather  than  an  originative  activity  ;  for  it  is 
the  pardon  offered  in  Christ's  Cross  that  in 
most  men  awakens  the  penitence  by  which 
they  are  crucified  unto  sin,  and  the  confidence 
in  which  they  live  with  Christ  unto  God. 
This  parable  shows  us  a  waiting  love  of 
God  ;  we  must  ever  supplement  its  repre- 
sentation by  the  companion  parables,  that 
present  to  us  the  seeking  love  of  God. 
With  God  there  is  ever  the  initiative  of 
grace,  and  for  men  there  is  the  receptivity 
and  the  response  of  submission  to  that  grace 
in  faith. 


82 


VII. 
WHAT  IS  PARDON? 


CHAPTER  VII. 
WHAT  IS  PARDON  ? 

"  But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw 
him,  and  had  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  kissed  him.  And  the  son  said  unto  him.  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  But  the  father  said 
to  his  servants.  Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on 
him ;  and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet. 
And  bring  hither  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it ;  and  let  us 
eat,  and  be  merry :  for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is 
alive  again  ;  he  was  lost,  and  is  found.  And  they  began 
to  be  merry." — Luke  xv.  20-24  (A.V.). 

"  But  while  he  was  yet  afar  off,  his  father  saw  him, 
and  was  moved  with  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his 
neck,  and  kissed  him  (Gr.  kissed  him  much).  And  the 
son  said  unto  him.  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven, 
and  in  thy  sight :  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy 
son  (marg.  Some  ancient  authorities  add  make  me  as  one 
of  thy  hired  servants.  See  ver.  19).  But  the  father 
said  to  his  servants  (marg.  Gr.  Bondservants),  Bring  forth 
quickly  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him  ;  and  put  a  ring 
on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet :  and  bring  the  fatted 

85 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

calf,  and  kill  it,  and  let  us  eat,  and  make  merry :  for  this 
my  son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again  ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 
found.     And  they  began  to  be  merry." — (R-V.) 

The  son's  return  at  once  meets  the  father's 
welcome  ;  the  penitence  is  at  once  followed 
by  the  pardon.  In  the  Christian  revelation 
the  pardon  is  offered  that  the  penitence 
may  be  felt.  But  passing  over  this  differ- 
ence, what  does  the  pardon  as  here  described 
tell  us  of  what  forgiveness  is  ?  It  suggests 
to  us  (i)  the  motive,  (2)  the  method,  and 
(3)  the  measure  of  pardon. 


I.  The  Motive. 

(i)  The  motive  is  compassion  ;  it  is  love 
moved  to  pity ;  it  is  literally  a  suffering 
with  the  sinner.  "  When  he  was  yet  a 
great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him,  and  had 
compassion."  We  have  already  seen  how 
God's  suffering  with  the  sinner  is  shown  in 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  God 
in  personal  experience,  as  real  to  the  Father 
God  as  to  the  Incarnate  Son,  "  tastes  death 
tor  every  man,"  descends  to  the  depths  of 
86 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

humiliation.  We  shall  not  be  vainly 
imagining,  if  we  think  of  the  father  in  the 
sight  of  his  son  realising  the  misery  and  shame 
and  want  of  the  far  country,  and  even  think 
of  him  as  ever  with  his  son  in  that  far 
country,  wondering  what  his  lot  might  be. 
The  story  itself  gives  the  impression  that 
the  compassion  began  only  when  the 
prodigal  was  seen  ;  even  although  it  did 
not  wait  for  the  first  words  of  penitence. 
But  when  we  think  of  God  we  must  never 
think  of  God's  pity  as  waiting  the  first 
movements  of  penitence.  For  while  peni- 
tence is  the  condition  of  the  human  experi- 
ence of  the  saving  love  of  God,  it  is  not  the 
source  of  the  compassion  in  the  heart  of  God. 
God  is  eternally  and  infinitely  love,  and  we 
may  dare  to  believe  that  even  the  sin  of  the 
most  impenitent  moves  Him  to  pity,  to 
seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  It  is  needful 
to  dwell  on  this  obvious  truth,  for  many 
Christian  minds  ;  for  there  are  some  be- 
lievers who  have  not  taken  into  their  souls 
the  whole  Christian  revelation.  It  is  some- 
times said  that  God  will  forgive,  if  a  man  will 

87 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

be  sorry  for,  and  turn  from,  his  sins.  It  is 
a  not  uncommon  error  that  the  motive  of 
God's  pardon  is  man's  penitence,  that  God 
Himself  waits  to  be  moved  by  man's 
emotion.  But  this  is  a  misinterpretation 
of  the  character  of  God  ;  man  does  not 
change  God's  disposition.  All  the  motives 
of  God's  dealings  lie  within  His  own  abso- 
lute perfection  as  love.  What  is  the  novelty 
of  the  Christian  Gospel  is  just  this,  that  God 
freely  offers  forgiveness  as  a  motive  of  man's 
penitence ;  He  seeks  to  save  before  man 
wants  to  be  saved. 

(2)  It  is  desirable  in  preaching  at  times  to 
lay  stress  on  this,  as  there  are  anxious,  timid 
souls,  who  seem  to  think  that  they  must  reach 
a  certain  degree  of  penitence  before  they  can 
be  assured  of  God's  pardon.  They  seem  to 
believe  that  by  intense  emotion  they  can  and 
must  change  God's  disposition.  When  they 
do  not  at  once  feel  the  joy  of  God's  forgive- 
ness, they  begin  to  be  afraid  that  they  are 
not  penitent  enough,  that  they  must  be  still 
more  sorry  than  they  are  to  move  God  to 
forgiveness.  The  motive  of  God's  pardon, 
88 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

it  must  be  insisted,  lies  not  in  anything 
that  man  can  feel  or  will,  but  in  what  God 
Himself  is.  The  necessity  for  penitence 
lies  in  man,  and  not  in  God.  If  pardon  be, 
as  we  shall  next  show,  a  restoration  of  man 
to  his  filial  communion  with  God,  it  is 
essential  that  there  be  in  man  a  judgment  of 
his  own  sin  corresponding  to  God's  judg- 
ment of  it.  There  can  be  fellowship  only 
when  there  is  likeness  ;  if  we  are  to  be  the 
children  of  God  in  trust  and  obedience,  we 
must  love  what  God  loves,  and  hate  what 
He  hates.  The  measure  in  which  we  re- 
cover our  filial  communion  with  God  does 
depend  on  the  measure  of  the  change  of  mind 
in  us,  God's  estimate  of  sin  becoming  ours. 
As  it  is  in  Christ's  Cross  that  the  divine 
judgment  on  sin  is  most  fully  expressed,  our 
penitence  becomes  adequate  in  the  measure 
in  which  we  are  crucified  with  Christ. 

2.  The  Method. 

(i)  The  father  ran,  and  fell  on  the 
prodigal's  neck,  and  kissed  him.  Pardon  is 
God's  act  fully  to  restore  man  to  Himself. 

89 


The  Joy   of  Finding 

[t  is  not  the  cancelling  of  penalty  primarily, 
although  the  changed  relation  to  God  will 
alter,  if  not  the  fact,  yet  the  meaning  and 
the  aim,  of  even  the  immediate  and  in- 
evitable consequences  of  sin.  It  is  first  of 
all  and  most  of  all  the  recovery  of  com- 
munion between  God  and  man.  The 
pardon  is  given  before  the  confession  is 
made ;  and  the  pardon  so  awakens  the 
filial  consciousness  in  the  prodigal  that 
while  he  still  confesses  his  unworthiness,  the 
thought  of  any  other  relation  than  that  of 
son  is  banished  from  his  mind.  The  prayer 
resolved  on,  "  Make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired 
servants,"  is  never  uttered.  The  kiss  made 
any  such  petition  impossible ;  only  at  a 
distance  from  the  father  could  any  other 
position  than  that  of  son  seem  even  tolerable. 
That  man  thinks,  feels,  and  wills  himself 
the  child  of  God  in  thankfulness  and  trust- 
fulness, love  and  surrender — this  is  what 
makes  forgiveness ;  and  anything  else  or  less 
would  not  be  what  man  needs,  and  what 
God  bestows. 

(2)  We  must  not,  on  the  other  hand,  limit 
90 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

the  effects  of  the  fact  of  forgiveness,  as  is 
often  done.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  all 
the  results  of  sin  must  be  borne,  even  by 
the  penitent ;  the  uttermost  farthing  of  the 
physical,  social,  and  moral  consequences 
must  be  paid.  This  is  not  true  ;  and  God 
be  praised  that  it  is  not  true.  God  does 
not  work  a  miracle  of  His  omnipotence 
to  detach  a  man  from  his  sinful  past  so 
completely  that  none  of  the  effects  of  that 
sin  will  continue.  A  saint  may  have  a 
diseased  body  till  death  brings  release  ;  a 
man  who  has  turned  from  his  evil  way 
may  never  quite  recover  his  lost  reputation 
with  his  fellow-men  ;  the  old  temptations 
may  still  assail,  the  old  habits  may  still  seek 
to  recover  their  grasp  ;  and  the  removal  of 
the  marred  character  is  often  a  slow  and 
painful  process,  but,  nevertheless,  when  a 
man's  relation  to  God  is  changed,  then  all  is 
changed,  the  man  having  himself  become  a 
new  creature,  the  old  things  have  passed 
away,  and  all  things  have  become  new.  We 
are  learning  that  courage  and  hope  have 
an  influence  even  on  the  physical  condition  ; 
91 


The  Joy   of  Finding 

suffering  patiently  borne  is  not  so  great  an 
evil  as  when  it  is  rebelliously  endured.  It  is 
the  shame  of  even  Christian  men  that  the 
converted  evil-doer  is  not  welcomed  back 
to  confidence  and  esteem.  Sometimes  there 
may  be  need  of  caution,  as  there  are  men 
sunk  so  low  morally  and  religiously  that  they 
vdll  pretend  conversion  for  worldly  ends  ; 
but  generosity  of  judgment  is  one  of  God's 
own  redemptive  energies  through  men. 
With  God  upon  his  side,  with  the  burden 
of  his  guilt  lifted  from  his  conscience,  with 
the  assurance  of  the  sufficiency  of  God's 
grace,  a  man  may  enter  on  the  moral 
struggle  with  the  assurance  of  victory  in  the 
end.  Whatever  trials  or  sorrows  or  struggles 
remain,  for  the  man  forgiven  all  punish- 
ment has  ceased,  and  he  can  make  the 
chastisements  of  life  the  means  of  self- 
development  in  the  likeness  of  the  child  of 
God.  In  forgiveness  God  gives  man  His 
companionship,  through  love  makes  man's 
life  his  own.  That  divine  approach  begins 
before  man's  return  ;  for  in  Jesus  Christ 
God  has  entered  into  the  life  of  man,  and 
92 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

made  the  suffering,  sorrow,  and  shame  of 
man's  sin  His  own  sacrifice.  By  the  self- 
identification  oi  love  God  in  Christ  has  taken 
our  place,  and  it  is  His  fellowship  in  the 
sacrifice  with  us  that  evokes  the  penitence 
and  faith  which  result  in  our  salvation  in 
our  fellowship  with  Him.  Personal  union 
of  God  and  man — that  is  how  God  forgives. 

3.  The  Measure. 

(i)  How  far  does  that  personal  union  go  ? 
The  language  of  the  parable  is  borrowed 
from  Eastern  custom  ;  but  it  makes  plain 
the  truth  that  God  restores  the  penitent  and 
pardoned  not  only  to  their  full  sonship, 
but,  as  it  would  even  seem,  to  a  sonship 
more  glorious  and  blessed  even  than  would 
have  been  possible  had  there  been  no 
interruption  of  the  fellowship.  This  is 
the  paradox  of  Christian  experience,  which 
we  must  state  carefully  to  avoid  error,  but 
which  we  cannot  leave  unexpressed  lest  we 
should  conceal  the  truth.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  must  hold  that  sin  is  evil,  and  evil  only, 
and  that  it  is  not,  and  was  not  meant  to  be, 
93 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

the  means  of  higher  good.  A  phrase  like 
Augustine's  felix  culpa  may  be  "  pro- 
curess to  the  lords  of  hell."  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  cannot  ignore  a  saying  like 
that  of  Jesus,  "  I  say  unto  you,  that  likewise 
joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that 
repenteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine 
just  persons,  which  need  no  repentance." 
The  joy  of  recovery  is  in  these  parables 
represented  as  greater  than  could  be  the 
comfort  of  continued  possession.  Would 
the  prodigal  have  ever  enjoyed  such  bliss 
in  the  father's  love,  or  have  had  such  tokens 
of  the  father's  joy,  had  he  remained  in  the 
home  ?  We  cannot  fail  to  ask  ourselves 
such  a  question.  It  is  not  wise  or  right, 
however,  to  turn  such  a  suggestion  into  a 
dogma,  and  to  assert  that  a  world  without 
evil  would  have  been  the  poorer,  because 
lacking  the  good  of  the  redemptive  love  of 
God,  and  a  sinless  humanity  less  blessed 
because  without  the  joy  of  being  forgiven. 

(2)  Without   pursuing   this   thought    any 
further,    we    may    insist    that    when    God 
pardons  He  pardons  to  the  uttermost,  and 
94 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

all  the  perfection,  glory,  and  blessedness  of 
the  child  of  God  is  freely  given  to  the  saved 
sinner.  In  human  experience,  however, 
God's  grace  is  conditioned,  and  so  limited 
hy  man's  faith.  A  man  has  as  much  good 
out  of  God's  pardon  as  he  is  willing  and 
able  to  possess.  In  the  parable  the  prodigal 
gets  all  the  blessing  of  forgiveness  at  once  ; 
but  in  human  experience  generally  the  full 
possession  comes  very  slowly.  Sometimes 
even  in  the  father's  house  the  spirit  of  the 
hired  servant  survives ;  and  obedience  is 
rendered  as  service,  and  blessing  is  received 
as  wages.  A  false  humility  sometimes  re- 
fuses the  full  joy  of  salvation  ;  and  men 
continue  in  trembling  anxiety  for  their, 
souls,  when  they  might  have  the  full  assur- 
ance of  faith.  This  attitude,  more  common 
in  former  days  than  it  is  now,  was  due  to 
failure  to  receive  the  revelation  of  God 
distinctive  of  Jesus  Christ.  Conceptions 
of  God  at  a  lower  stage  in  the  progress  of 
revelation  were  allowed  to  obscure  the 
glory  of  the  Fatherhood  made  known  in 
Jesus  Christ.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate 
95 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

for  how  much  torture  and  anguish  of  soul 
the  doctrine  of  election,  for  instance,  has 
been  responsible  ;  how  men  and  women  have 
tormented  themselves  to  find  the  proof  of 
their  election  in  the  assurance  of  faith,  and 
when  they  were  sure  of  faith,  how  they 
struggled  for  the  faith  of  assurance  ;  and  so 
the  process  of  salvation  was  made  a  labour  and 
a  heavy  burden,  and  not  a  rest  to  the  soul. 

(3)  Surely  Jesus  meant  that  men  should 
accept  fully  what  God  offers  freely ;  peni- 
tence should  reinforce  and  not  hinder 
faith  ;  humility  is  the  companion  and  not 
the  rival  of  confidence.  We  should  not 
be  so  sorry  for  our  sins  that  we  cannot  be 
sure  of  our  forgiveness ;  for  this  is  not  a 
godly  sorrow  that  bringeth  life,  but  an 
ungodly  that  worketh  death.  Great  as  is 
our  sense  of  our  sinfulness,  greater  still 
should  be  our  assurance  of  the  divine  for- 
giveness that  cancels  the  sin.  The  prodigal 
surely  forgot  the  far  country,  the  swine,  and 
the  husks  in  the  robe,  the  ring,  the  shoes,  and 
the  feast.  The  parable  does  not  follow  his 
career  any  further ;  but  from  Christian 
96 


What  is  Pardon  ? 

experience  we  can  learn  that  the  rapture  of 
the  new  experience  is  sometimes  followed, 
although  it  need  not  be,  by  depression,  by  a 
return  of  old  temptations,  doubts,  and  fears ; 
but  it  also  teaches  us  that  the  life  in  the 
father's  house,  if  only  faith  ever  claims 
grace,  can  be  one  of  ever  closer  fellowship 
with,  of  ever  greater  likeness  to,  the  father, 
of  a  joy  not  less  real,  even  if  less  intense, 
than  the  first  moments  of  forgiveness.  For 
God  in  His  grace  provides  abundantly  all 
that  the  renewed  soul  needs  for  fullest 
growth,  and  freest  exercise.  There  is  no 
grudging  in  God's  as  there  is  often  in  man's 
forgiveness.  When  He  pardons,  He  pardons 
with  overflowing  love  ;  and  the  only  measure 
of  the  pardon  of  God  is  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  as  measureless  as  His  eternal  and 
infinite  Being. 


97 


VIII. 
WHAT  IS  «•  RIGHTEOUSNESS"? 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
WHAT  IS  "  RIGHTEOUSNESS  "  f 

"  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field :  and  as  he  came 
and  drew  nigh  to  the  house,  he  heard  music k  and  dancing. 
And  he  called  one  of  the  servants,  and  asked  what  these 
things  meant.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Thy  brother  is 
come ;  and  thy  father  hath  killed  the  fatted  calf,  because 
he  hath  received  him  safe  and  sound.  And  he  was  angry, 
and  would  not  go  in  :  therefore  came  his  father  out,  and 
intreated  him.  And  he  answering  said  to  his  father,  Lo, 
these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,  neither  transgressed 
I  at  any  time  thy  commandment:  and  yet  thou  never 
gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might  make  merry  with  my 
friends :  But  as  soon  as  this  thy  son  was  come,  which 
hath  devoured  thy  living  with  harlots,  thou  hast  killed  for 
him  the  fatted  calf." — Luke  xv.  25-30  (A.V.). 

"  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field  :  and  as  he  came 
and  drew  nigh  to  the  house,  he  heard  music  and  dancing. 
And  he  called  to  him  one  of  the  servants,  and  inquired 
what  these  things  might  be.  And  he  said  unto  him, 
Thy  brother  is  come;  and  thy  father  hath  killed  the 
fatted  calf,  because  he  hath  received  him  safe  and  sound. 
But  he  was  angry,  and  would  not  go  in :  and  his  father 
lOI 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

came  out,  and  Intreated  him.  But  he  answered  and  said 
to  his  father,  Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,  and  I 
never  transgressed  a  commandment  of  thine  ;  and  yet  thou 
never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might  make  merry  with  my 
friends  :  but  when  this  thy  son  came,  which  hath  devoured 
thy  living  with  harlots,  thou  killedst  for  him  the  fatted 
calf."— (R.V.) 

The  title  of  the  parable,  The  Prodigal  Son, 
ignores  the  existence  of,  and  so  diverts  our 
attention  from,  the  elder  brother.  And  yet, 
as  has  already  been  suggested,  it  is  the 
picture  of  the  elder  brother  which  is  more 
important  for  Jesus'  purpose  than  the 
picture  of  the  prodigal.  Here  we  have  the 
portrait  of  the  Pharisee,  the  opponent  of 
Jesus,  the  description  of  what  was  esteemed 
righteousness  in  the  Jewish  nation.  When 
Jesus  uses  the  term,  as  in  the  sayings,  "  I 
came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners," 
He  is  not  referring  to  such  goodness  as  He 
could  approve,  but  to  what  was  generally 
esteemed  goodness  in  His  own  age.  Another 
portrait  of  the  ''  righteous  "  pictured  here  in 
the  elder  brother  is  presented  to  us  in  the 
parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

I02 


What  is  "  Righteousness  "  ? 

There  is  the  same  conceit  and  the  same 
censoriousness.  The  details  of  a  parable 
are  not  to  be  pressed.  It  is  appropriate 
that  the  father  in  the  parable  should  say 
to  the  elder  brother,  "  Son,  thou  art  ever 
with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine  "  ;  but 
we  must  not  understand  that  as  a  declaration 
by  Jesus  that  the  Pharisee  had  the  proper 
communion  with  God,  or  was  enjoying  the 
full  possession  of  the  blessings  of  the  right 
relation  to  God.  The  words  may  be  taken, 
however,  as  a  tender  appeal  to  the 
"  righteous,"  an  assurance  that  for  them 
also  there  was  waiting  the  love  of  God  with 
all  its  fulness  of  blessing  as  soon  as  they  would 
be  ready  to  welcome  and  receive  it.  In 
reality,  the  elder  brother  in  Jesus'  estimate 
was  even  further  from  the  father's  house 
and  heart,  and  had  less  hope  of  return,  than 
the  prodigal  in  the  far  country,  for  Jesus 
regarded  this  "  righteousness  "  as  a  greater 
barrier  to  salvation  than  "  sin."  We  must 
then  look  more  closely  at  the  righteousness 
that  hinders  human  penitence  and  divine 
forgiveness.  Conceit  and  censoriousness  are 
103 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

its  more  evident  features,  but  the  root  of 
these  lies  in  the  calculation  of  claims  upon 
God. 

I.  Calculation. 

(i)  The  prodigal  thought  of  asking  the 
father  to  make  him  one  of  the  hired  servants, 
but  the  father's  forgiveness  silenced  that 
petition  ;  but  the  elder  brother  is  in  feeling 
and  aim  represented  as  a  hired  servant. 
"  Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee, 
neither  transgressed  I  at  any  time  thy  com- 
mandment :  and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me 
a  kid,  that  I  might  make  merry  with  my 
friends."  There  is  no  love  of  the  father,  no 
delight  in  doing  his  v^ill,  no  thankfulness  for 
his  gifts,  no  trustfulness  in  his  kindness,  but 
only  estranged  desire  and  enforced  obedi- 
ence. The  elder  brother  would  have  en- 
joyed himself  with  his  companions,  if  he 
had  dared  to  ask  for  the  means.  He  would 
not  have  served,  if  he  had  not  feared  the 
results  of  transgression  of  the  father's  com- 
mandments. This  is  a  fundamentally  false 
relation  between  God  and  man ;  for  it 
104 


What  is   "Righteousness"? 

misrepresents  the  character  and  the  purpose 
of  God.  God  is  not  merely  Lawgiver, 
Ruler,  Judge,  and  He  does  not  desire  first 
of  all  obedience,  but  faith,  trust  in  His 
goodness  and  His  grace.  A  false  conception 
of  God  leads  inevitably  to  a  wrong  relation 
to  Him.  Servitude  is  the  characteristic 
of  the  life  lived  under  the  control  of  law 
and  not  the  constraint  of  love.  Evil  desire 
is  not  destroyed  by  pure  affection,  but  only 
restrained  by  fear  of  consequences.  The 
companions  are  more  than  the  father ;  and 
the  kid  would  have  been  more  prized  than 
his  companionship. 

(2)  This  moral  and  religious  peril  is  not 
confined  to  the  days  of  Jesus  on  earth. 
Even  within  Christendom  there  is  the 
constant  peril  of  a  lapse  into  this  attitude  ; 
God's  favour  is  to  be  won  by  the  merit  of 
good  works.  In  Roman  CathoHcism  the 
evangeHcal  conception  has  been  displaced 
by  the  legal ;  but  even  in  Protestantism 
the  Old  Testament  standpoint  has  some- 
times been  taken  instead  of  the  outlook 
of  the  New  Testament.  Take  Scottish 
105 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

Sabbatarianism  as  an  instance  ;  how  much 
more  of  the  legal  than  the  evangelical 
conception  and  relation  !  Conceit  and  cen- 
soriousness  as  marks  of  Pharisaism  are  the 
more  obvious,  but  they  are  only  secondary 
symptoms ;  the  primary  disease  is  that  God 
is  conceived  as  law^,  and  not  as  love,  and 
men  put  conformity  to  lav7  for  the  sur- 
render to  love. 

2.  Conceit. 

If  God  be  conceived  as  law  and  not  as 
love,  a  limit  can  be  set  to  His  claim  on  the 
soul ;  and  accordingly  there  can  be  the 
conceit  of  conformity  to  His  law.  The 
elder  brother  was  sure  that  he  had  served 
these  many  years,  and  that  he  had  never 
transgressed,  and  he  believed  himself  to  be 
entitled  to  some  favour  and  reward.  Such 
conceit  is  the  barrier,  it  is  evident,  to  real 
moral  progress.  When  a  man  believes  the 
claim  of  law  to  be  limited  to  certain  com- 
mandments, when  he  persuades  himself 
that  he  has  not  transgressed  any  of  these 
commandments,  his  moral  course  will  have 
1 06 


What  is  "  Righteousness  "  ? 

reached  its  goal.  For  him  the  moral  life 
is  a  finite  satisfaction,  and  not  an  infinite 
aspiration.  There  cfn  be  no  moral  progress 
unless  man  is  conscious  of  an  infinite  ideal 
of  moral  perfection  in  God  which  it  is  his 
life  in  God  ever  to  be  reaHsing.  If  he  has 
this  infinite  aspiration,  he  will  have  an 
inexhaustible  inspiration  of  ever  loftier 
purpose  and  more  heroic  endeavour.  This 
satisfaction  is  possible  only  when  the  law  is 
regarded  as  external  commandment ;  for 
conformity  to  law  in  outward  act  does  not 
appear  a  "  forlorn  hope."  But  whenever 
the  inwardness  of  morality  is  recognised,  as  it 
was  by  Paul,  to  judge  from  his  confession  in 
Romans  vii.  7  that  it  was  the  commandment 
"  Thou  shalt  not  lust  "  which  morally  slew 
him,  then  the  impossibility  of  conforming 
every  thought,  feeHng,  desire  to  the  law's 
requirements  is  also  realised.  It  is  only  a 
law  of  limited  and  external  obligation  which 
can  encourage  the  conceit  that  it  has  not 
been  transgressed,  and  such  a  law  would  be 
a  condition  of  moral  stagnation,  and  not  of 
progress. 

107 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

3.  Censoriousness. 

(i)  The  man  who  is  satisfied  with  him- 
self is  very  censorious  to  others.  The 
Pharisees  scorned  the  "  sinners,"  who  in- 
cluded not  only  the  morally  reprobate,  and 
religiously  indifferent,  but  also  plain  good 
people,  whose  circumstances  did  not  allow 
them  to  maintain  the  Pharisaic  strictness. 
They  despised  and  condemned  Jesus,  be- 
cause, professing  to  be  a  moral  and  religious 
teacher,  He  did  not  follow  in  their  ways, 
but  became  the  companion  of  the  sinners. 
The  elder  brother  in  the  parable  illustrates 
this  censoriousness.  He  thinks  the  worst, 
and  he  makes  no  allowances.  Whether  the 
riotous  living  in  the  far  country  included 
the  harlots  or  not,  the  elder  brother  will 
make  the  case  as  black  as  he  can.  We  know 
people  who  literally  delight  in  iniquity ; 
they  have  an  unclean  joy  in  describing  the 
vices  that  they  abstain  from  themselves ; 
and  seem  to  have  a  cruel  satisfaction  in 
bringing  home  the  worst  offences  to  others ; 
they  ever  give  free  rein  to  their  imagination 
108 


What  is  "  Righteousness "  ? 

when  their  information  does  not  go  far 
enough  for  their  malice.  If  they  were  truly 
moral,  they  would  hate  sin  too  much  to  find 
a  pleasure  in  talking  about  it,  they  would 
care  for  their  brother's  good  too  much  to 
endanger  it  by  depriving  him,  even  if 
guilty,  of  the  compassion  that  might  help  his 
repentance.  It  is  because  their  conformity 
to  their  Hmited  external  law  has  cost  them 
so  little,  that  they  do  not,  and  cannot,  make 
allowances.  They  can  compute  only  how 
much  is  committed,  and  not  how  much  is  re- 
sisted. Their  judgment  of  others  is  false  alike 
in  what  it  ignores  and  what  it  exaggerates. 

(2)  The  true  "  righteousness  "  recognises 
the  illimitable  claim  of  God  because  it 
trusts  in  His  inexhaustible  love  ;  it  thinks 
not  of  a  fixed  number  of  outward  com- 
mandments to  be  obeyed  ;  but  of  a  life 
inspired  by  grateful  love  to  be  fully  sur- 
rendered to  the  generous  love  of  God.  It  is 
not  law  that  compels,  but  love  that  con- 
strains. As  the  claim  of  love  is  absolute, 
there  can  never  be  the  conceit  of  conformity 
to  law ;  there  is  the  humility  that  recog- 
109 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

nises  the  insufficiency  of  the  return  that  has 
been  made  for  love,  and  there  is  the  aspira- 
tion for  fuller  submission.  With  humility  and 
aspiration  there  go  charity  and  compassion. 
He  who  is  ever  conscious  of  falling  short  him- 
self will  not  dare  harshly  to  judge  the  failure 
of  another.  He  knows  how  strong  are  the 
temptations,  and  how  feeble  the  endeavours, 
of  man.  Sin  in  himself  and  in  others  he 
will  judge,  and  with  an  ever  more  searching 
judgment ;  but  as  he  hopes  for  God's  pity, 
nay,  in  Christ  is  assured  of  it,  he  vdll  be  very 
pitiful  to  others.  As  it  is  by  grace  alone  that 
he  himself  expects  to  be  saved,  he  will  seek 
to  be  a  minister  of  grace  to  others.  As  he 
becomes  truly  more  holy,  he  will  become 
not  less,  but  more  pitiful,  for  his  holiness  is 
an  ever  closer  fellowship  with,  and  an  ever 
greater  likeness  to  the  Holy  Father,  who  loves 
and  forgives.  The  prodigal  who  accepted 
the  father's  forgiveness,  and  responded  to 
his  love,  was  possessed  of  the  true  righteous- 
ness, if  only  in  a  germ  needing  further 
development;  while  the  elder  brother  had 
only  the  false  righteousness  of  the  Pharisee, 
no 


IX. 

WHAT  IS  BLESSEDNESS  F 


CHAPTER  IX. 
WHAT  IS  BLESSEDNESS  ? 

"  And  he  said  unto  him,  Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me, 
and  all  that  I  have  is  thine.  It  was  meet  that  we  should 
make  merry,  and  be  glad  :  for  this  thy  brother  was  dead, 
and  is  alive  again ;  and  was  lost,  and  is  found." — Luke 
XV.  31,   32  (A.V.). 

"  And  he  said  unto  him.  Son  (marg.  Gr.  Child),  thou 
art  ever  with  me,  and  all  that  is  mine  is  thine.  But  it 
was  meet  to  make  merry  and  be  glad  :  for  this  thy  brother 
was  dead,  and  is  alive  again  ;  and  was  lost,  and  is  found." 
-(R.V.) 

The  judgment  of  the  elder  brother  in  the 
preceding  section,  although  the  context 
seems  to  compel  us  to  regard  it  as  Jesus' 
own  judgment,  has  been  challenged.  There 
have  been  apologists  for  the  elder  brother. 
It  is  better,  it  has  been  urged,  to  be  a  respect- 
able moral  man  than  a  prodigal.  Better  to 
keep  the  commandments,  if  only  in  the  legal 
spirit,  than  to  be  recklessly  wicked. 

113 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

I.  The  Blessedness  Refused. 

We  may  concede  that  it  is  morally  better 
to  be  sober  than  drunken,  chaste  than 
lustful,  honest  than  fraudulent ;  and  in 
magnifying  grace  we  must  beware  of  mini- 
mising morality.  But  over  against  this 
admission  we  must  put  three  considerations 
suggested  by  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Himself. 
Firstly,  the  elder  brother  would  have  liked 
to  make  merry  with  his  companions,  although 
he  dared  not  ask  for  the  kid.  If  a  man  be 
sober,  chaste,  and  honest,  because  he  fears 
to  be  otherwise,  is  he  moral  from  the 
religious  standpoint,  whatever  he  may  be 
from  the  social  ?  Such  conformity  may 
have  a  relative,  but  it  has  not  an  absolute, 
value.  Secondly,  this  kind  of  morality 
carries  with  it  the  grave  defects  of  conceit 
and  censoriousness.  Can  we  regard  a  man 
as  truly  a  good  man,  if  he  is  pleased  with 
himself,  and  is  ready  to  find  fault  with  others  ? 
The  sins  of  outward  deed  are  not  the  only 
sins  ;  from  the  standpoint  of  social  utility 
they  may  be  the  worst ;  but  viewed  in  the 
114 


What  is  Blessedness  ? 

light  of  God's  revelation  of  Himself  as  love 
is  conceit  or  censoriousness  to  be  lightly 
judged  ?  Thirdly^  Jesus  at  least  seemed  to 
believe  that  the  prodigal's  condition  w^as  less 
hopeless  than  the  elder  brother's.  Note 
how  abruptly  the  parable  closes.  We  are 
not  told  what  response  the  elder  brother 
made  to  the  father's  tender  and  touching 
appeal.  Had  Jesus  Himself  had  any  hope 
for  the  Pharisees,  should  we  not  have  had 
some  hint  ?  We  know  that  in  fact  the  appeal 
of  the  parable  and  all  other  appeals  of  Jesus 
were  in  vain.  Sins  such  as  the  prodigal's 
bring  their  retribution,  and  sometimes  lead 
to  remorse,  and  even  repentance.  The 
Pharisee,  because  the  world  does  not  judge 
him,  but  even,  it  may  be,  admires  his  recti- 
tude, does  not  judge  himself  ;  and  so  remains 
impenitent.  The  words  in  the  thirty-first 
verse  must  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the 
words  of  verse  twenty-nine.  The  elder 
brother  might  ever  be  with  the  father,  but 
it  was  only  as  a  servant  with  a  servile  spirit ; 
all  that  the  father  had  might  be  his,  but  he 
did  not  dare  to  ask  for  a  kid.     Surely  the 

115 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

verse  expresses  unrealised  possibility,  and 
unused  opportunity.  Neither  was  the 
father's  companionship  enjoyed,  nor  were 
his  gifts  used.  The  elder  brother,  whatever 
he  appeared  to  be,  was  in  reality  self-exiled 
from  the  love  and  the  blessing  of  his  father, 
waiting  for  him,  and  pleading  with  him. 
Can  hell  be  worse  than  the  refusal  of  the  love 
of  God,  and  the  blessedness  it  offers  ?  But 
we  may  gladly  turn  from  the  elder  brother 
to  dwell  on  the  joy  of  the  forgiving  father 
and  the  forgiven  son. 

2.  The  Blessedness  of  Saving. 

Gladness  in  the  sinner's  recovery  is  in 
accord  with  the  nature  of  God.  As  the 
shepherd  rejoices  in  the  recovery  of  the  lost 
sheep,  and  the  woman  in  regaining  her  lost 
coin,  and  the  human  father  in  the  return  of 
his  prodigal,  so  it  is  meet  that  God  should 
rejoice  in  the  salvation  of  man.  It  is 
because  man  has  worth  for  God,  that  his 
recovery  brings  God  joy  ;  and  the  worth  of 
man  lies  not  in  what  man  is  in  himself,  but 
in  what  God  as  love  wills  that  man  should 
ii6 


What  is  Blessedness  ? 

be.  The  man  dead  in  sin  may  seem  to  have 
little  worth  ;  but  God's  love  wills  that  he 
should  be  alive.  Not  what  he  is  in  the  far 
country  but  what  he  may  be  in  the  father's 
house  is  the  measure  of  his  worth.  About 
God's  blessedness  in  saving  we  may  ask  two 
questions  :  (i)  Is  God's  blessedness  in  the 
redeemed  greater  than  it  could  have  been 
in  a  world  that  needed  no  redemption  ? 
From  this  question  we  cannot  escape, 
although  we  may  feel  the  difficulty  of  the 
answer  which  it  forces  upon  us.  Love  unto 
self-sacrifice  in  saving  seems  to  us  to  have 
a  value  which  love  needing  not  to  sacrifice 
cannot  have.  Answer  the  question  how  we 
may  ;  of  this  at  least  we  are  sure,  that  the 
sorrow  of  God  for  man's  sin  issues  in  the 
blessedness  of  God  in  man's  salvation.  The 
Cross  of  Sorrow  is  transformed  into  the 
Crown  of  Blessedness.  A  God  blessed  in 
saving  is  a  worthier  conception  even  than 
a  God  blessed  in  His  eternal  perfection. 

(2)  But  as  we  dwell  on  the  bright  sunshine 
of    this    thought    there    intrudes    the    dark 
shadow  of  the  second  question.     Can  that 
117 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

blessedness  be  complete  unless  all  are 
saved  ?  Must  not  God's  sorrow  for  the 
lost  lessen  His  joy  in  the  found  ?  Must  not 
the  elder  brother  outside  take  from  the 
father's  pleasure  in  the  restored  son  at  the 
banquet  ?  To  that  question  we  cannot 
now  give  the  final  or  adequate  answer  ;  for 
we  walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight ;  we  see 
as  through  a  glass  darkly,  and  not  yet  face 
to  face.  But  surely  what  we  know  of  God 
as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ  gives  us  the 
assurance  that  the  blessedness  of  the  love 
of  self-sacrifice  shall  yet  be  complete, 
although  we  know  not  when  or  how.  For 
faith  this  is  enough. 

3.  The  Blessedness  of  Forgiveness  Gained. 

But  we  must  think  also  of  the  joy  of 
the  prodigal  in  his  return.  The  contrast 
between  the  far  country  and  the  father's 
house,  between  the  death  and  the  life,  the 
loss  and  the  recovery,  must  have  filled  his 
heart  with  exultant  gladness.  Could  the 
blessedness  have  been  as  great  without  that 
contrast  ?  Here  again  the  same  question 
118 


What  is   Blessedness  ? 

insistently  pursues  us.  Is  the  joy  of  being 
saved  greater  than  could  be  the  satisfaction 
of  not  needing  salvation  ?  Be  this  as  it 
may,  the  blessedness  of  the  saved  is  not,  and 
cannot  be,  entire  oblivion  of  the  past  ;  nay, 
rather  it  is  the  transfiguration  of  the  shadow 
of  sin  by  the  sunshine  of  God's  forgiveness. 
For  the  sin  forgiven  is  remembered  only  to 
magnify  the  grace  of  the  forgiveness.  The 
gratitude  of  man's  love  cannot  forget  the 
generosity  of  God's.  The  remembrance  of 
the  divine  sacrifice  by  which  salvation  has 
come  to  man  is  the  motive  of  the  heavenly 
song  of  the  redeemed.  The  new  song  they 
sing  is:.  "Worthy  art  thou  to  take  the 
book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof  :  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  didst  purchase  unto 
God  with  thy  blood  men  of  every  tribe, 
and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation  ;  and 
madest  them  to  he  unto  our  God  a  kingdom 
and  priests ;  and  they  reign  upon  the  earth  " 
(Rev.  v.  9,  10).  In  the  vision  of  the  blessed 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne  there  is  "  a  Lamb 
as  it  had  been  slain."  The  sense  of  forgive- 
ness is  the  strongest  motive  to  holiness  here, 
119 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

and  will  not  fail  to  be  a  spring  of  blessedness 
hereafter.  This  is  truly  the  wonder  of 
God's  world,  that  the  darkest  tragedy  has 
issued  in  the  most  splendid  triumph,  that 
the  grace  of  God  has  so  vanquished  the  power 
of  sin  that  the  saved  find  their  blessedness  in 
the  experience  of  their  salvation. 

4.  The  Blessedness  of  Forgiveness 
Shared. 

But  the  joy  of  the  saved  in  their  own 
salvation  is  not  the  fullest  blessedness 
possible  ;  there  is  even  a  better  gift.  It  is 
the  joy  of  blessing  shared  by  others.  We 
may  fear  sometimes  that  our  joy  may  be 
marred  by  the  remembrance  of  the  unsaved, 
and  surely  we  could  not  desire  to  escape 
that  loss  of  joy  by  any  selfish  forgetfulness. 
But  we  may  leave  that  doubt  to  the  love 
that  has  given  us  such  assurance  of  its  will 
to  save  and  bless,  and  may  allow  ourselves 
to  be  carried  out  of  the  narrow  bounds  of 
our  own  individual  good  into  the  full  current 
of  joy  inspired  by  the  confident  expectation 
of  a  redeemed  world.  How  significant  the 
120 


What  is  Blessedness  ? 

words  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (xi.  40), 
"  God  having  provided  some  better  thing 
concerning  us,  that  apart  from  us  they  should 
not  be  made  perfect."  The  joy  of  each 
believer  perfected  in  the  joy  of  the  fellow- 
ship ;  the  joy  of  all  the  generations  of  faith 
perfected  in  the  glorious  and  blessed  con- 
summation, when  the  world's  Redeemer  shall 
see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied  ; 
when  it  shall  be  said,  not  of  this  or  that 
one  prodigal,  but  of  all  mankind,  "  Dead 
and  now  alive,  lost  and  now  found." 

It  was  such  a  joy  that  the  parable  of  Jesus 
invited  the  Pharisees  to  share  ;  but  they 
would  not,  even  as  the  elder  brother  in  the 
story  would  not  go  in.  Is  Jesus  not  to-day 
still  inviting  even  men  professedly  Christian 
to  an  interest  in  the  salvation  of  sinners, 
which  by  their  indifference  to  the  work  of 
His  grace  in  the  world  they  are  refusing  ? 
But  those  who  accept  His  invitation,  and 
share  His  solicitude  for  the  lost,  share,  too. 
His  satisfaction  in  their  recovery.  To  be 
self-exiled  from  the  joy  of  the  world's 
salvation  is  hell,  for  it  is  to  shut  oneself  out 
121 


The  Joy  of  Finding 

of  the  love  of  God  Himself  ;  to  be  self- 
dedicated  to  that  joy  is  heaven,  for  it  is  to 
enter  into  the  life  of  God  Himself,  who  as 
love  sorrows  in  the  lost,  and  has  joy  in  the 
saved.  The  one  unpardonable  sin  is  surely 
to  refuse  the  grace  of  pardon  for  oneself,  and 
to  be  indifferent  to  the  conquests  of  that 
grace  in  the  world.  Love  rejected  brings 
a  worse  condemnation  than  could  law  dis- 
obeyed. The  throne  of  judgment  is,  not  on 
Sinai,  but  on  Calvary. 


122 


APPENDIX. 
EXPLANATORY  NOTES  FROM— 

1.  The  Synoptic  Gospels^  by  Bruce.      The  Expositor's 

Greek  Testament. 

2.  The    Gospel  according  to    St.    Luke,    by  Plummer. 

The  International  Critical  Commentary. 

3.  The  Gospel  of  St,  Luke,  by  Adeney.     The  Century 

Bible. 

Vers.  11-32.  "The  Parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son.  It  completes  the  trilogy  of  these 
parables  of  grace,  but  we  cannot  be  sure 
that  it  was  uttered  on  the  same  occasion  as 
the  two  other  parables.  The  Evangelist 
separates  it  from  them  by  making  a  fresh 
start  :  Elirev  Be  (comp.  xxiv.  44).  But 
this  may  mean  no  more  than  that  Jesus, 
having  justified  Himself  against  the  mur- 
murings  of  the  Pharisees,  paused  ;  and  then 
began  again  with  a  parable  which  is  a  great 
123 


Appendix 

deal  more  than  a  reply  to  objections.  Even 
if  it  was  delivered  on  some  other  occasion 
unknov^n  to  Luke,  he  could  not  have  given 
it  a  more  happy  position  than  this.  The 
first  two  parables  give  the  Divine  side  of 
grace  :  the  seeking  love  of  God.  The  third 
gives  the  human  side  :  the  rise  and  growth 
of  repentance  in  the  heart  of  the  sinner. 
It  has  been  called  Evangelium  in  Evangelio, 
because  of  the  number  of  gracious  truths  it 
illustrates.  It  has  two  parts,  both  of  which 
appear  to  have  special  reference  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  Luke  places  the 
parable.  The  younger  son,  who  was  lost 
and  is  found  (11-24),  resembles  the  publicans 
and  sinners ;  and  the  elder  son,  who  mur- 
murs at  the  welcome  given  to  the  lost 
(25-32),  resembles  the  Pharisees.  In  the 
wider  application  of  the  parable  the  younger 
son  may  represent  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
elder  the  Jews.  Like  the  Lost  Coin,  it  is 
peculiar  to  Luke,  who  would  take  special 
delight  in  recording  a  discourse  which 
teaches  so  plainly  that  God's  all-embracing 
love  is  independent  of  privileges  of  birth 
124 


Appendix 

and  legal  observances.  Its  literary  beauty 
would  be  a  further  attraction  to  the 
Evangelist,  who  would  appreciate  the 
delicacy,  picturcsqueness,  and  truth  of  this 
description  of  human  circumstances  and 
emotions  "  (Plummer).  "  This  most  beauti- 
ful and  precious  of  all  the  parables  is 
only  found  in  Luke.  It  enlarges  on  the 
lessons  of  the  two  previous  parables,  with 
the  addition  of  many  new  features.  Thus 
it  is  more  like  a  complete  allegory  than  any 
other  of  our  Lord's  parables.  It  is  important 
not  to  lose  sight  of  its  main  lesson — the 
joy  of  restoring  the  lost,  as  that  lesson  is 
paramount  in  all  three  parables.  But  other 
very  important  lessons  are  also  evidently 
intended  to  be  gathered  from  this  richly 
significant  story  "  (Adeney). 

Ver.  12.  ^^  give  me  the  portion  of  thy 
substance  that  falleth  to  w^." — ''  According 
to  the  Jewish  law  this  would  be  half  what  the 
eldest  received,  i.e.  one-third  (Deut.  xxi.  17)  ; 
but  had  he  any  claim  to  it  in  his  father's 
lifetime  ?  Very  possibly  he  had.  We  have 
here  perhaps  a  survival  of  that  condition 
125 


Appendix 

of  society  in  wKich  testaments  *  took  effect 
immediately  on  execution,  were  not  secret, 
and  were  not  revocable  '  (Maine,  Ancient 
Law^  ch.  vi.  p.  174,  ed.  1861),  and  in  which 
it  was  customary  for  a  father,  when  his 
powers  were  failing,  to  abdicate  and  to 
surrender  his  property  to  his  sons.  In  such 
cases  the  sons  were  bound  to  give  the 
father  maintenance  ;  but  the  act  of  resigna- 
tion was  otherwise  complete  and  irrevocable. 
Both  in  Semitic  and  in  Aryan  society  this 
seems  to  have  been  the  primitive  method  of 
succession,  and  the  Mosaic  Law  makes  no 
provision  for  the  privileges  of  testatorship 
{j,hid>,  p.  197).  The  son  of  Sirach  warns  his 
readers  against  being  in  a  hurry  to  abdicate 
(Ecclus.  xxxiii.  19-23),  but  he  seems  to 
assume  that  it  will  be  done  before  death. 
We  may  say,  then,  that  the  younger  son 
was  not  making  an  unheard-of  claim.  His 
father  would  abdicate  some  day  in  any  case  ; 
he  asks  him  to  abdicate  now  "  (Plummer). 
"  It  is  said  that  *  in  some  provinces  in  India, 
as  soon  as  the  younger  son  reaches  manhood, 
any  of  the  sons  can  demand  a  division  of  the 
126 


Appendix 

property'  (A.  Wright,  5/.  Luke,  p.  139)" 
(Adeney).  "  divided  unto  them.^^ — "  In 
justice  to  his  elder  son  the  father  gives  him 
his  portion  also,  but  living  still  at  home  he 
does  not  take  it  away.  He  and  his  father 
would  now  live  as  partners  "  (Adeney). 

Ver.  14.  "famine.^^ — "Such  correspond- 
ences between  the  physical  and  moral 
worlds  do  occur,  and  there  is  a  Providence 
in  them  "  (Bruce). 

Ver.  15.  '^  joined  himself  ."^^ — "  The  citizen 
of  the  far  country  did  not  want  him, 
it  is  no  time  for  employing  superfluous 
hands,  but  he  suffered  the  wretch  to  have 
his  way  in  good-natured  pity  "  (Bruce). 

Ver.  16.  "have  filled  his  belly;'  A.V. ; 
''have  been  filled^'  R.V.  "There  is  no 
doubt  that  x^P^^^^V^^''  (n  B  D  L  R)  is  not 
a  euphemism  for  ye/ilarai  ttjp  koiXuip  avrov 
(APQXTA),  but  the  true  reading: 
cupiebat  saturari  (d  f)  concupiscebat  saturari 
(e);  Syr — Sin.  supports  A"  (Plummer). 
"  no  man  gave  unto  him,'''  — "  No  one 
was  giving  him  :  this  his  experience  from 
day  to  day  and  week  to  week.  Giving 
127 


Appendix 

what  ?  Not  the  pods,  as  many  think 
— these  he  would  take  without  leave — but 
anything  better.  His  master  gave  him  little 
— famine  rations,  and  no  other  kind  soul 
made  up  for  the  lack.  Neither  food  nor  love 
abounded  in  that  country.  So  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  swine's  food  or  semi- 
starvation  "  (Bruce).  "  Even  this  miserable 
food,  so  that  the  quantity  which  he  got  was 
small "  (Plummer). 

Ver.  17.  ''he  came  to  himself,'' -—''This 
equals  either,  realising  the  situation ;  a 
coming  to  his  true  self,  his  sane  mind. 
Perhaps  both  ideas  are  intended.  He  at  last 
understood  there  was  no  hope  for  him  there, 
and,  reduced  to  despair,  the  human,  the 
filial,  the  thought  of  home  and  father  re- 
vived in  the  poor  wretch  "  (Bruce).  "  hired 
servants,''  —  "  Casual  labourers,  inferior  to 
the  slaves,  as  tramps  hired  by  a  farmer  for 
harvesting  are  reckoned  inferior  to  the  men 
on  the  farm  engaged  from  year  to  year  " 
(Adeney). 

Ver.  18.  "7  will  arise,"  — - "  A  bright  hope 
gives  energy  to  the  starving  man  ;  home  ! 
128 


Appendix 

Said,  done ;  but  the  motive  is  not  high.  It  is 
simply  the  last  resource  of  a  desperate  man. 
He  will  go  home  and  confess  his  fault,  and 
so,  he  hopes,  get  at  least  a  hireling's  fare. 
Well  to  be  brought  out  of  that  land,  under 
home  influences,  by  any  motive.  It  is  in 
the  right  direction.  Yet  though  bread  is 
as  yet  the  supreme  consideration,  foretokens 
of  true  ethical  repentance  appear  in  the 
premeditated  speech  "  (Bruce).  "  against 
heaven,''^ — "  The  word  '  Heaven  '  was  com- 
monly used  by  the  Jews  for  '  God.'  The 
reality  of  the  story  is  seen  in  keeping  the  idea 
of  the  father  in  human  regions.  Thus  the 
penitent  owns  his  sin  against  God  first  " 
(Adeney). 

Ver.  20.  "  while  he  was  yet  afar  (?^,"  etc. 
— "  The  idea  is  that  his  father  was  looking 
for  him  and  able  to  recognise  him  at  a  dis- 
tance, even  in  rags.  It  illustrates  God's 
attitude  as  '  waiting  to  be  gracious ' " 
(Adeney). 

Ver.  21.  —  "He  makes  his  confession 
exactly  as  he  had  planned  it ;  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  he  makes  his  humiliating 
129 


Appendix 

request.  The  words  iroiriaov  fie  w9,  /c.t.\.,  are 
here  attested  by  x,  B,  D,  U,  X  ;  but  almost 
all  other  MSS.  and  most  Versions  omit  them. 
They  may  be  taken  from  Ver.  19,  and  in- 
ternal evidence  is  against  them.  Augustine 
says :  '  Non  addit  quod  in  ilia  meditatione 
dixerat,  Fac  me  sicut  unum  de  mercenariis 
tuis '  (Quaest,  Evang,  ii.  33).  He  had  not 
counted  on  his  father's  love  and  forgiveness 
when  he  decided  to  make  this  request ;  and 
now  emotion  prevents  him  from  meeting  his 
father's  generosity  with  such  a  proposal  " 
(Plummer).  "  The  son  repeats  his  pre- 
meditated speech,  with  or  without  the  last 
clause  ;  probably  with  it,  as  part  of  a  well- 
conned  lesson,  repeated  half  mechanically, 
yet  not  insincerely — as  if  to  say  :  I  don't 
deserve  this ;  I  came  at  most  expecting  a 
hireling's  treatment  in  food  and  otherwise; 
I  should  be  ashamed  to  be  anything  higher  " 
(Bruce). 

Ver.  22.  ''the  best  r^?^^."— "  The  word 
indicates  a  stately  robe,  such  as  was  worn  on 
ceremonial  occasions."  "  a  ring.^^ — "  Prob- 
ably with  a  signet,  giving  some  authority." 

130 


Appendix 

"  shoes.'*^ — "  Sandals,  not  worn  by  slaves, 
therefore  showing  he  was  free  "  (Adeney). 
''  Robe — ring — shoes ;  all  symbols  of  filial 
state  "  (Bruce). 

Ver.  23.  ''  the  fatted  calf'' — "  Prepared  for 
some  approaching  feast.  Was  this  to  be 
the  older  son's  wedding  ?  "  (Adeney). 

Ver.  24.  "  this  my  son,'' — "  The  father 
formally  calls  him  his  son,  partly  by  way  of 
recognition,  and  partly  to  introduce  him  to 
the  attendants  in  case  they  might  not  know 
him  "  (Bruce).  "  J^^^."— Ethically  ?  or  as 
good  as  dead  ?  the  latter  more  probable  in  a 
speech  to  slaves  "  (Bruce),  ''lost." — "His 
whereabouts  unknown;  one  reason  among 
others  why  there  was  no  search,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  sheep  and  the  coin  "  (Bruce). 

Ver.  26.  "  what  these  things  might  be," — 
"  Not  contemptuous,  *  What  all  this  was 
about '  (Farrar,  C.  G.  T.),  but  with  the 
puzzled  air  of  a  man  in  the  dark  and  sur- 
prised "  (Bruce). 

Ver.  28.  "  angry," — "  He  had  been  work- 
ing, and  was  irritable,  perhaps  because  tired. 
Moreover,  he  was  taken  by  surprise,  and  he 
131 


Appendix 

had  not  been  consulted  "  (Adeney).  ^'  in- 
treated  him,'' — As  "  the  unwillingness  to  go 
in  was  a  state  which  continued,  the  father's 
entreaties  continue  also.  He  treats  both 
sons  with  equal  tenderness "  (Plummer). 
"  The  father  goes  out  and  presses  him  to 
come  in,  very  properly  ;  but  why  not  send 
for  him  at  once  that  he  might  stop  working 
on  the  farm  and  join  in  the  feasting  and 
dancing  on  that  glad  day  ?  Did  they  all 
fear  that  he  would  spoil  the  sport  and  act 
accordingly  ?  The  elder  son  has  got  a 
chance  to  complain,  and  he  makes  the  most 
of  it  in  his  bitter  speech  to  his  father " 
(Bruce). 

Ver.  29.  " serve''* — "  His  view  of  his 
relation  to  his  father  is  a  servile  one." 
"  never  transgressed."  —  "  The  blind  self- 
complacency  of  the  Pharisee,  trusting  in 
his  scrupulous  observance  of  the  letter  of 
the  Law,  is  here  clearly  expressed.  This 
sentence  alone  is  strong  evidence  that  the 
elder  brother  represents  the  Pharisee  rather 
than  the  Jewish  nation  as  a  whole,  which 
could  hardly  be  supposed  to  make  so  demon- 
132 


Appendix 

strably  false  a  claim  "  (Plummer).  ^^a  kid.^^ — 
"  Of  less  value  than  the  fatted  calf."  "  with 
my  friends y — *'  Not  with  his  father.  He 
has  his  own  friends.  Really,  then,  he  too 
has  drifted  away  from  his  father,  though 
living  in  the  home  "  (Adeney). 

Ver.  30.  "  this  thy  son  J'' — "  Contemptuous. 
'  This  precious  son  of  yours.'  He  will  not 
say,  *  My  brother  '  "  (Plummer).  "  with 
harlots.''^ — "  Hard,  merciless  judgment ;  the 
worst  said  and  in  the  coarsest  way.  How 
did  he  know  ?  He  did  not  know ;  had  no 
information,  jumped  at  conclusions.  That 
the  manner  of  his  kind,  who  shirk  work,  and 
go  away  to  enjoy  themselves "  (Bruce). 
"  This  is  mere  conjecture,  thrown  out 
partly  in  contrast  to  '  with  my  friends '  (who 
of  course  would  be  respectable),  partly  to 
make  the  worst  of  his  brother's  conduct. 
That  it  shows  how  he  would  have  found 
enjoyment,  had  he  broken  loose,  is  not  so 
clear  "  (Plummer). 

Ver.  31.  "-ever  with  me^ — "  'What  he  is 
enjoying  for  this  one  day  thou  hast  always 
been  able  to  command.'  But  like  the 
133 


Appendix 

Pharisees,  this  elder  son  had  not  understood 
or  appreciated  his  own  privileges.  More- 
over, like  the  first  labourers  in  the  vineyard, 
he  supposed  that  he  v^as  being  wronged 
because  others  were  treated  with  generosity  " 
(Plummer).  "All  that  is  mine  is  thine,^^ — "  If 
he  wanted  entertainments  he  could  always 
have  them  :  the  property  had  been  appor- 
tioned (ver.  12).  Thus  the  first  reproach  is 
gently  rebutted.  So  far  from  the  elder 
son's  service  never  having  met  with  recogni- 
tion, the  recognition  has  been  constant ;  so 
constant  that  he  had  failed  to  take  note  of  it. 
The  father  now  passes  to  the  second  re- 
proach— the  unfair  recompense  given  to  the 
prodigal.  It  is  not  a  question  of  recom- 
fense  at  all :  it  is  a  question  of  joy.  Can  a 
family  do  otherwise  than  rejoice,  when  a  lost 
member  is  restored  to  it  ?  "  (Plummer). 

Ver.  32.  "  meet?'' — '*  This  joy  is  becoming. 
The  music  and  dancing  are  not  out  of  place. 
The  penitent  is  not  to  be  received  with 
gloom,  but  with  rejoicing "  (Adeney). 
"  this  thy  brother,''^ — "  The  substitution  of 
0  aheK^o^  aov  for  0  vlo^  /jlov,  and  the  repeti- 

134 


Appendix 

tion  of  0VT09  clearly  involve  a  rebuke ; 
*  this  thy  brother,  of  whom  thou  thinkest 
so  severely.  If  I  have  gained  a  son,  thou 
hast  gained  a  brother  '  "  (Plummer). 

Vers.  31,  32.  —  "The  father  answers 
meekly,  apologetically,  as  if  conscious  that 
the  elder  son  had  some  right  to  complain, 
and  content  to  justify  himself  for  cele- 
brating the  younger  son's  return  with  a 
feast ;  not  a  word  of  retaliation.  This  is 
natural  in  the  story,  and  it  also  fits  well  into 
the  aim  of  the  parable,  which  is  to  illustrate 
the  joy  of  finding  the  lost.  It  would  serve 
no  purpose  in  that  connection  to  disparage 
the  object  of  the  lesser  joy.  There  is 
peculiar  joy  over  one  sinner  repenting  even 
though  the  ninety-nine  be  truly  righteous, 
and  over  a  prodigal  returned  even  though 
the  elder  brother  be  a  most  exemplary, 
blameless,  dutiful  son  "  (Bruce).  *'  Not  the 
least  skilful  touch  in  this  exquisite  par- 
able is  that  it  ends  here.  We  are  not  told 
whether  the  elder  brother  at  last  went  in 
and  rejoiced  with  the  rest.  And  we  are  not 
told  how  the  younger  one  behaved  after- 
135 


Appendix 

wards.  Both  those  events  were  still  in  the 
future,  and  both  agents  were  left  free.  One 
purpose  of  the  parable  was  to  induce  the 
Pharisees  to  come  in  and  claim  their  share 
of  the  Father's  affection  and  of  the  heavenly 
joy.  Another  was  to  prove  to  the  outcasts 
and  sinners  with  what  generous  love  they 
had  been  welcomed  "  (Plummer). 

These  brief  extracts  have  been  collected 
as  a  help  to  preachers  desiring  to  preach  upon 
this  parable  ;  and  indicate  how  inexhaustibly 
suggestive  it  is  to  different  minds.  For 
this  reason  the  writer  has  allowed  others, 
rather  than  himself,  to  speak  in  these 
Explanatory  Notes. 

"Cor  nostrum  inquietum  est,  donee   requiescat  in  te.'* 

"Da  quod  jubes,  et  jube  quod  vis." 

"  Deo  servire  vera  libertas  est." 


136 


INDEX 

Adeney,  123  ff. 

Destitution,  59. 

Allegory,  8,  59. 

Disappointment,  64. 

Ambition,  64. 

Analogy,  30. 

Election,  22,  96. 

Animism,  20. 

Eucken,  19, 

Anthropomorphism,  l6f. 

Evil,  18,  24,  39. 

Anthropopathism,  l6f. 

Anxiety,  31. 

Faith,  24,  95,  96. 

AppeUte,  34,  47,  $1,  60,  61. 

Fatherhood,  li,  15,  21  ff.,  95, 

Arnold,  16. 

no. 

Assurance,  96. 

Folly,  76. 

Atheism,  35. 

Foreknowledge,  39. 

Atonement,  11,  68,  117. 

Augustine,  94. 

Godlessness,  46. 

Avarice,  63. 

Grace,  81,  95. 

Guih,  75f.,  92. 

Blessedness,  113  fF, 

Browning,  77. 

Heaven,  122. 

Bruce,  123  ff. 

Hell,  loi,  121. 

< 

Holiness,  119. 

Calculation,  104. 

Humility,  109. 

Catholicism,  105. 

Censoriousness,  108. 

Ideal,  34. 

Charity,  iio. 

Immorality,  47. 

Communion,  90. 

Immortality,  50. 

Compassion,  86,  IIO. 

Imprudence,  76. 

Conceit,  106. 

Incarnation,  20. 

Conscience,  48,  51,  67. 

Individuality,  32. 

Conversion,  81. 

Intemperance,  52,  77. 

Cross,  12,  68,  73,  89,  117. 

Judas,  65. 

Degradation,  62. 

Judgment,  57  ff.,  71,  73,89. 

Dependence,  31,  35. 

Depravity,  47. 

Logic,  23. 

I' 

V 

57 

Index 


Loss,  4,  25. 
Love,  38. 

Maine,  126. 
Malice,  109. 
Man,  29  ff.,  45- 
Morality,  48,  107,  114. 

Omnipotence,  38. 
Omnipresence,  46. 

Parable,  8,  103. 
Pardon,  22,  72,  85  ff.,  118. 
Patripassian,  7,  17. 
Penalty,  58,  65,  75,  90. 
Penitence,  57,  68,  71  ff.,  81. 
Personality,  18,  32,  61. 
Pharisee,    53,   102,   108,    IIO, 

115,  121. 
Philosophy,  7,  24. 
Plummer,  123  ff. 
Property,  29. 
Protestantism,  105. 
Providence,  31. 
Prudence,  66,  76. 
Publican,  53,  102. 


Recovery,  4,  25,  94. 
Religion,  21,  48,  114. 
Righteousness,  10 1  ff. 

Sabbatarianism,  106. 
Sacrifice,  ii,  67,  68,  93. 
Saviourhood,  26. 
Schleiermacher,  31. 
Scholarship,  10. 
Self-control,  33. 
Self-denial,  80. 
Self-development,  33, 
Self-discovery,  75. 
Self-disgust,  78,  87. 
Self-will,  35. 
Servitude,  105. 
Sin,  6,  24ff.,  35,  431; 
Sonship,  26,  93. 
Sorrow,  24. 
Spencer,  16,  20. 

Theology,  7,  73. 
Trinity,  5. 

"Wisdom,  76. 
Wright,  127. 


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